A three-judge bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices Arun Mishra and A.K. Goel on Friday took on record the suggestions given by senior advocate and amicus curiae Harish Salve in consultation with the stakeholders to increase the surcharge amount for commercial vehicles entering Delhi.
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The money collected through this levy will be used by the Delhi government to augment transport in Delhi.
“We do not want all children to become ninjas”, said senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing the petitioners, referring to the CJI’s reference to his grandson looking like a ninja by wearing a mask to avoid high levels of pollution in Delhi.
However, if was clarified that commercial vehicles carrying essential commodities, food stuff and passengers and emergency vehicles, including ambulances, would be exempted from the environment cess. The government will furnish accounts of receipts to the Supreme Court on a weekly basis.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response from the central and Delhi governments on a plea seeking ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers during the festival of Dussehra and Diwali as this further aggravates the already risky level of air pollution.
The supreme court today issued notices to the Delhi Pollution Control Board, Delhi government and Centre on a petition filed by three infants-Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin, all aged between 6 months and 14 months urging for urgent measures to bring down the “fatal” pollution level in national capital Delhi.
“The MCD estimate of the number of trucks crossing Delhi borders is grossly underestimated and is unreliable for calculating pollution load from trucks”, the study said, adding the gap at different entry points varies in the range of 50-96 percent. According to the note, a compensation charge will be imposed at the rate of R700 for light duty vehicles and two-axle trucks.
Along with introducing the pollution tax, the New Delhi government has a longer-term plan to construct a new ring road to divert traffic from entering the city, Reuters reported. These latest developments link to a previous court case that called on the government to implement taxes on commercial vehicles entering the city.
The direction also said that private toll tax operators should install radio frequency identity systems at their own cost at all 127 points.
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Governments in neighbouring states-Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan-would have to cooperate with the Delhi government to ensure appropriate implementation.
