SC expresses concern about Delhi-NCR pollution, CJI shares his own experience; Says ‘I just went for a walk yesterday…’

New Delhi: Amicus Curiae Aparajita Singh presented the matter before the Supreme Court today in the Delhi pollution case. She stated that the situation in Delhi-NCR is alarming and it is a health emergency. Chief Justice Surya Kant asked, “What magic wand can the judicial forum wave?” He said, “I know this is dangerous for Delhi-NCR. Tell me what instructions we can give.”

The CJI asked, “If we could issue some guidelines and immediately provide clean air, we would be happy.” He said, “We all know what the problem is. We have to identify all the causes. There is no single cause. Thinking that way would be a grave mistake.” Advocate Aparajita Singh is acting as amicus curiae for the bench in the air pollution case.

Only field experts and scientists can consider this

The Chief Justice said that only field experts and scientists can consider this. Then we need to see what solutions can be found in each area. Let’s see what the government has constituted as a committee. This matter was also formally listed during Diwali and other occasions. But most of them remained “on paper,” resulting in no concrete improvement. He said that we should monitor regularly.

The CJI assured that we will discuss this. We will discuss it continuously. The CJI had said that the air quality in Delhi has deteriorated so much that he is avoiding going out. On Thursday, November 27, 2025, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition on the deteriorating air quality in the Delhi-National Capital Region on December 3.

The court had refused to impose year-round restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). GRAP is an emergency framework under which certain activities are prohibited in case of severe pollution levels.

Pollution situation in Delhi-NCR

On Thursday, November 27, the air quality in Delhi remained in the very poor category. A day earlier, the Air Quality Management Commission had lifted the restrictions imposed under Stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR. The city’s overall AQI was 351 in the morning. At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26, the city’s 24-hour average AQI was recorded at 327, which falls in the very poor category. This was slightly better than Tuesday’s 353 AQI and Monday’s 328 AQI. This was the 21st consecutive day when the AQI remained above 300.

CJI Surya Kant said, “I just went for a walk yesterday. I walked for 55 minutes. When I came back, I felt discomfort and had a hard time until morning.”