“Stop making jokes of our orders”, the National Green Tribunal warned the Delhi Government on Thursday, taking strong exception to its casual approach on monitoring vehicles entering the city through different entry points and directed it to produce complete details of inspection.
“You were supposed to check three things (age, weight and extent of pollution caused by vehicles) at the different entry points to Delhi. Have you done that or not? Stop making jokes of our orders. You can’t just sit and tell us anything you want. We will impose the cost on your officers,” a bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
The observation came while the Tribunal was hearing arguments on devising alternative routes to ease pressure on Delhi roads.
The green panel had on July 20 constituted three teams comprising enforcement department of the transport department, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), weights and measures department and Delhi Police to check vehicles for their age, weight and extent of pollution caused while entering Delhi at various entry points. The counsel for Delhi government found himself in a fix when the bench sought to know the latest status on inspection of heavy vehicles coming to the capital and their entry timings.
When he tried to seek instructions from the officers present around him, they too looked clueless. “Why does this army of officers come when they don’t know anything? It is ridiculous. “You tell us on Monday on how many entry points you have complied with our orders. We want details of all departments involved in the exercise, what action you have taken and what instruments you used during inspection. If not, then why?” the bench said. The Delhi government told the Tribunal that out of several inlets to Delhi, 83 per cent of pollution is captured by 13 entry points.
