JUDGMENT

RANGANATH MISRA, C.J.I. — This is an application under Article 32 of the Constitution in the public interest litigation sector. A practising advocate who is the Chairman of the Environment Protection Cell operating at Delhi is the petitioner. This Court has been asked to issue directions for closing down of hazardous industries located in the densely populated areas of Delhi and for regulation of air pollution caused by automobiles operating in the area as also the thermal units generating power for the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (hereafter referred to as DESU).

2. The Union Territory of Delhi has a total population of about 96 lakhs, out of which the urban area consisting of old Delhi, New Delhi and the Cantonment has a population of around 90 lakhs. By 1947 when the country became independent, Delhi had a population of a little over 5 lakhs. In these little more than two scores of years the population has, thus, multiplied by 19 times. Though it is a spread out city, in some pockets, the density of population is very high and these have become congested.

3. The problem of environmental pollution is global in an increasingly small world and concerns all countries irr