In an exclusive interview, News24 had the chance to sit tête-à-tête with the former Chief Justice of India, B.R. Gavai. Throughout the interview, he spoke ardently about the issues that plague Delhi and highlighted many insights that could lead to profound change. Upon being asked about pollution in Delhi, B.R. Gavai answered:
it’s not enough that debates regarding pollution only take place around Diwali or when the pollution rise. He further added that the departments that need to be working to curtail the issue have a staff shortage and have vacancies that need to be filled as soon as possible.
“It is not enough that discussions or hearings on this issue take place only during Diwali or when pollution levels rise. The departments that are supposed to work on this do not have enough people. There are vacancies in those departments. How will the court’s orders be implemented?”
BR Gavai Past Actions on Pollution control
In the recent past, CJI Gavai had given the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) a free hand to take any proactive measures to curb air pollution throttling Delhi-NCR after the statutory body proposed advancing choice GRAP IV restrictions like work-from-home and 50% office attendance to the ongoing GRAP III stage itself. The Supreme Court had at that time mentioned that any proactive measure of CAQM to reduce air pollution is always welcome, on November 19.
Witnessing the free hand, the Commission had suggested exempting BS-III emission vehicles from the protection of an August 12, 2025 apex court order, which had barred authorities from taking any coercive steps against the owners of 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles.
CAQM proposed including differential rates and augmentation of public transport fleets and metro services, more deployment at traffic congestion spots, and synchronisation of traffic movements to be put in place as part of the GRAP I stage.
CAQM had proposed a review of the electric vehicle policies and the imposition of higher environmental protection charges on luxury diesel cars and SUVs of 2000 cc capacity and above — currently, the environmental cess charged is a meagre 1%.
Also Read: News24 Exclusive: Former Supreme Court chief justice B.R. Gavai speaks on judiciary, government and media – Watch interview
