T.S. Thakur, J

More than 15 years have rolled by since the Supreme Court first expressed its serious concern about the quality of environment in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Such was the failure on the part of the Delhi Development Authority, the MCD, the Central Pollution Control Board as also the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in the discharge of their duties that the court castigated them for their inaction in the matter in M.C. Mehta Versus Union of India, 1992 (3) SCC 256. Referring to a World Health Organization study, the court observed that utter disregard to environment has placed Delhi in an unenviable position of being the world’s third grubbiest and most polluted and unhealthy city. The court observed :

“We are conscious that environmental changes are the inevitable consequence of industrial development in our country, but at the same time the quality of environment cannot be permitted to be damaged by polluting the Air, Water and Land to such an extent that it becomes a health-hazard for the residents of the area. We are constrained to record that Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi P