By Tajdar H. Zaidi
Lucknow: To combat rising air pollution, the central government has doubled the penalties on farmers burning crop stubble.
Farmers with less than two acres of land holding will have to pay Rs 5,000, those with two to five acres will have to give Rs 10,000, and those with more than five acres Rs 30,000 per incidence of burning paddy stubble, according to the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (Imposition, Collection and Utilization of Environmental Compensation for Stubble Burning) Amendment Rules, 2024, which take effect immediately.
Earlier, this environmental compensation was Rs 2,500 for farmers with less than two acres of land holding, Rs 5,000 for those with two to five acres, and Rs 15,000 for those with more than five acres.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the rules under the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, on November 7, two weeks after the Supreme Court slammed the central government for “toothless” environmental laws and ineffective small fines.
The ministry, on November 4, also notified the Environment Protection (Manner of Holding Inquiry and Imposition of Penalty) Rules, 2024, under which it laid down the process of filing complaints with central and state pollution control boards and committees, the CAQM, and offices of the Union environment ministry.
It also laid out the process of holding an inquiry on complaints against environmental pollution and that of adjudicating such complaints.
Air quality in the national capital remained ‘very poor’ on November 7, with the overall air quality index (AQI) hitting 369, as per data from ‘System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research’ (SAFAR) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
On October 23, the Supreme Court had pulled up the central government, saying that the EPA has been rendered “toothless” due to the Centre’s inaction after the 2023 Jan Vishwas Amendment which replaced punishment for violation of the Act with penalties.
It had also pointed out that previous fines lacked effectiveness due to delays in appointing adjudicating officers and implementing the necessary regulatory framework.
“The substituted Section 15 has been rendered completely ineffective due to inaction on the part of the Government of India. Neither the Rules are framed to support the said provision nor has the appointment of adjudicating officers as provided in Section 15C been made, though more than six months have elapsed since the date the substituted Section 15 came into force,” the order stated.
The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Augustine George Masih had said, “As the adjudicating officers are not appointed under Section 15C, the law-enforcing machinery cannot impose penalties under Section 15. In the absence of machinery created by the Government of India, Section 15 as substituted has become toothless.”
