CLEAN AIR VS DAILY LIFE: HOW COURTS ARE REWRITING WINTER IN DELHI-NCR

GRAP-IV bans most construction, and the Supreme Court is pressing agencies on enforcement.

- TDG NETWORK

A year ago Delhi's air pollution emergency followed a familiar script: smog levels spiked, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) invoked Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), schools switched to hybrid learning and older diesel vehicles were banned. 2025's winter has seen a sharper judicial posture. In December the Supreme Court, hearing petitions on Delhi-NCR's pollution, scolded authorities for failing to address root causes. Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that shutting schools is “an interim safeguard, not a solution,” and emphasised long-term planning over kneejerk closures. The bench also re-

fused to interfere when Delhi moved classes online for younger children; justices noted that existing measures have mostly “failed” and that the court cannot act as a superregulator.