Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre and Delhi government for their responses on a plea seeking imposition of a higher tax on owners of diesel- run cars in order to control air pollution.
A three-judge Green bench comprising Justice AK Patnaik, SS Nijjar and FMI Kalifulla also sought replies from the Haryana, UP and Rajasthan governments in three weeks in this regard. The plea was filed by amicus curiae and senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the court in pollution related matters. It points to the alarming rise in air pollution in the national capital.
The application contends that 3,000 children die annually in Delhi due to increasing pollution levels to which the rising number of diesel cars on the roads has contributed in a significant way. Salve sought a direction for higher taxes on car-owners and a time-bound action plan for augmentation of public transport services along with the necessary action to remove entry taxes on public buses at state borders.
The counsel had submitted the latest report by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) for the National Capital Region, which has been converted into an application by the bench.
The plea seeks a 30 per cent surcharge on cost of diesel cars, a drastic increase in registration fees for personal cars and a proportional decrease in similar fees for buses to improve air quality in the national capital. The report said that Delhi was able to arrest and lower air pollution with the introduction of CNG vehicles, but has not been able to sustain these gains with air pollution levels again rising due to the growing number of vehicles in the city.
"Since 2007, particulate levels have increased by 75 per cent. (But) during the decade 2002 to 2012, vehicle numbers have increased by as much as 97 per cent, contributing enormously to pollution and direct exposure to toxic fumes. "Studies show that about 55 per cent of Delhi's 17 million people who live within 500 metres of roads are directly exposed to toxic vehicular fumes," it said.
Earlier, in November 2012, the apex court had sought the Centre's reply to another plea by Salve for the levying of an 'environment compensation charge" on all existing private vehicles and new diesel cars in NCR.
The plea had sought the court's intervention in controlling the "spiralling air pollution in NCR" and had pleaded that a fee of 25 per cent of the cost be levied on every new diesel vehicle. It had also sought a 2 per cent fee on the cost of all existing petrol cars and a 4 per cent levy on the cost of existing diesel cars which were being used as private vehicles in the city.
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