Pollution tax will put Delhi on highway to hell

Beginning November 1, Delhi will have to officially open its roads for commercial goods vehicles to pass through the national capital even to other destinations on payment of pollution tax. Though the Supreme Court order on imposition of the environment compensation charge (ECC) is being hailed a step towards reducing pollution, it lacks clarity and raises fears of putting the health of people of Delhi and adjoining areas at risk.

As a regular commuter passing through the Ghazipur border, I happen to see a board strategically placed at the intersection informing all concerned about a December 6, 2001 Supreme Court order imposing a blanket ban on entry of all non-Delhi bound medium and light goods vehicles into Delhi. The order seemingly stands overruled. Looking at the pollution tax order in this backdrop, I feel it is a bad bargain for people living in Delhi and along the borders.

As far as my knowledge goes, the December 2001 order had not been overruled (to the contrary it was reaffirmed in 2002) until the recent pollution tax order which overrules it by implication. I may be ill-informed but I bank on latest court orders on an issue for information. Surprisingly, the pollution tax order by a bench presided over by chief justice HL Dattu makes no reference to the December 2001 order or its fate. "It is therefore, proposed that with effect from January 15, 2002 no heavy, medium or light goods vehicles will ply on inter-state routes by passing through Delhi or New Delhi, " the court order of December 6, 2001 reads.

Going by the reference to entry of vehicles not destined for Delhi in the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) report considered by CJI Dattu's bench, it is evident that the 2001 order was being observed in breach. But whatever may have been the fate of the 2001 order, the recent order surely does not improve upon it. To the contrary, it is retrograde given the benchmark of complete ban set by the 2001 order 14 years ago.

Given an option, one would in my view undoubtedly choose to seek implementation of the 2001 order rather than getting it diluted to seek compliance. Virtually diluting the 2001 order, the CJI's bench allowed entry of commercial goods vehicles subject to payment of the ECC of Rs 700 and Rs 1,300 for light and heavy vehicles, respectively.

The court clearly seemed to be aware of the harm and also of the fact that money could not undo the harm thus caused. Though termed as environment compensation charge, the fund can hardly help in undoing the direct damage caused to the quality of air in Delhi. The court has ordered that the money "ought to be exclusively used for augmenting public transport and improving roads".

True, the court has asked neighbouring states to take steps to divert non-Delhi bound vehicles away from Delhi but the order does not impose blanket ban on such vehicles passing through Delhi.

With the court order exempting the ECC for vehicles carrying food stuffs and oil tankers, it is likely to increase traffic and also leave scope for misuse of the exemption to bypass the order.

Since the exemption does not distinguish between Delhi and non-Delhi bound vehicles, non-Delhi bound vehicles can be tempted to take the Delhi route.

The order seems to be unfair towards Delhi-bound vehicles. Particularly, when the ECC was targeted at deterring vehicles not bound for Delhi. "Thus, apart from the MCD toll, it was necessary to impose ECC to equalise the difference in cost in travelling through alternative routes," the court said. The above justification gives the impression that the ECC was fixed taking into account costs likely to be incurred by non-Delhi bound vehicles taking alternate routes bypassing Delhi.

The fact that the ECC was fixed with non-Delhi bound vehicles in mind, it hardly leaves any doubt over there being no complete ban on such vehicles. If intent was to read the latest order with the 2001 order, it should have been mentioned and not left to interpretations. With the order being in force on an experimental basis, the debate on allowing non-Delhi bound vehicles to pollute Delhi should continue at least till the order comes up for review before the Supreme Court in February 2016.