Supreme Court says stopping vehicles, construction to prevent pollution ‘old, tried, failed tools’

The Hindu · Krishnadas Rajagopal · 2026-11-06 14:19 UTC

Supreme Court labels anti-pollution tools like vehicle bans outdated, urges public action and balanced measures amid GRAP debates.

The Supreme Court on Friday (November 6, 2026) termed measures like banning vehicles and construction to curb air pollution in the national capital as “old, tried and failed tools”.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the Union government and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) if they had any “significant scientific method other than stopping vehicles and stopping construction”.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, arguing for CAQM and the Centre, said that it would not be completely true to call such measures a “complete failure”. Ms. Bhati said emergency and pre-emptive measures like Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) have at least been able to arrest air pollution at sustainable levels.

Read the full story at The Hindu · All coverage of this story