The Supreme Court has officially concluded the long-standing environmental case M.C. Mehta vs Union of India after four decades. Moving forward, issues concerning air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) will be addressed through new suo motu proceedings. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, has prohibited any further interlocutory applications in the 1985 case.
The Court has instructed the apex court registry to create a new case named “In Re: Issues of Air Pollution in the National Capital Region.” All pending interlocutory applications from the previous case will now be treated as separate writ petitions under the fresh suo motu proceedings focusing on air pollution in Delhi-NCR. Each pending application will be handled independently with distinct writ petition numbers assigned for consideration.
Previously, the Supreme Court had expressed concerns about the ongoing “endless litigation” under various cases involving MC Mehta vs Union of India. The bench emphasized the need to address the repeated filing of interlocutory and miscellaneous applications, which had led to the misconception that numerous decades-old cases were still unresolved. The Court aims to prevent disposed petitions from being mistakenly perceived as ongoing litigation.
