President Signs Ordinance to constitute a Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas [Read Ordinance]

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday approved  ‘The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020’ which provides for the constitution of a Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.

The Ordinance states that the quality of air in the airspeed of the NCR and adjoining areas remains a major cause of concern.

A multiple-member Commission under the Ordinance to be headed by a person who is or has been Secretary to the Government of India or Chief Secretary to the Government of a State. It will be constituted by the Central Government by a notification in the Official Gazette.

The Commission will have the power to take all such measures, issue directions and entertain complaints, as it deems necessary or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the air in the NCR and adjoining areas and will also have the duty to take all such measures as become necessary for protecting and improving the quality of the air in NCR.

The Ordinance aims to evolve and implement a consolidated approach for monitoring, tackling, and eliminating the causes for air pollution and identifying, specifying and enforcing measures for elimination and mitigation of air pollution including, but not limited to, controlling or eliminating the actives of stubble burning, vehicular pollution, road dust, and urban constriction.

Earlier, the Supreme Court stayed its order appointing the one-man committee headed by Justice Madan B Lokur (Retd.) to oversee steps to tackle stubble burning as the Centre said it would create a permanent body through legislation to deal with annual air pollution problem in Delhi and its surrounding areas.

Read the Ordinance 

The article was originally published in The Leaflet.