With Delhi’s familiar winter haze settling in again, the Supreme Court on Wednesday voiced a concern that many parents have been repeating under their breath: why are schools still holding sports events at a time when the air itself becomes hazardous?
On Wednesday, a bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran, hearing ongoing matters related to Delhi-NCR pollution, acknowledged the growing anxiety around children being exposed to toxic air during annual sports days typically held in November and December.
The apex court said it had carefully noted a submission by Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh who warned that compelling children to participate in such outdoor activities during peak smog months “would amount to virtually putting” them “in a gas chamber.”
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“The learned amicus has also raised the concern for most of the schools having their sports competition in the months of November-December, which is the peak period for poor…air quality. The amicus submits that this would amount to virtually putting the school-going children in a gas chamber. We, therefore, request the CAQM to take into consideration this aspect of the matter and issue necessary directions to the concerned states so that the sports competition activities could be shifted to safer months,” the bench noted.
SC intervenes, allows Punjab's paddy straw pellet mandate for brick kilns
Notably, following this year’s festive season Delhi’s AQI continues to swing between “very poor” and “severe,” and medical experts have repeatedly flagged children as the most vulnerable group to long-term respiratory harm.
The Supreme Court also addressed a long-running dispute over brick-kiln emissions in Punjab. Both the Centre and the Punjab government urged the court to intervene against a November 2023 Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had paused the state’s directive mandating brick kilns to use paddy straw pellets as fuel instead of coal.
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The Supreme Court stayed the High Court order. “The State of Punjab and the Union of India are on the same page that the HC order is detrimental to the reduction of pollution in the state of Punjab… HC has stayed the notification issued by Punjab directing the use of paddy straw pellets as fuel. Nobody can dispute that the emissions from pellets are much lower than those from coal, which is being used in accordance with the interim order passed by the HC. We accordingly stay the HC order,” the bench said.
