Overview
- A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi disposed of WP(C) No.13029/1985 and barred further interlocutory filings in that case.
- The registry was directed to open suo motu proceedings titled “Re: Issues of Air Pollution in National Capital Region” and to convert all pending applications into separate writ petitions with individual numbers.
- Advocates on Record must, within two weeks, state whether their applications are infructuous, with surviving matters to be grouped by subject including vehicular pollution, air-quality governance, power plants, industrial pollution and waste management.
- The court ordered advance circulation of reports, instructing CAQM to share its filings with stakeholders and requiring Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to submit compliance affidavits ahead of hearings.
- The bench said repeated interlocutory applications had fostered a false sense of decades-old pendency, and related long-running MC Mehta matters are being reorganised though not all are formally closed.