Context: With the President signing the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020,which gives a statutory authority to track and combat air pollution in and around the National Capital Region has come into existence.

About the ordinance

• Under the ordinance, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has been dissolved and replaced by a commission comprising over 20 members.
• “The ordinance may be called the Commission for Air Quality Management In National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020. 
• It shall apply to national capital region and also adjoining areas in so far as it relates to matters concerning air pollution in the NCR. It shall come into force at once,”.
• As per the ordinance, the adjoining areas where it shall be in force include Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, adjoining areas of the NCR and Delhi where any source of pollution is located and is causing adverse impact on air quality in the national capital region. 
• The commission can restrict any industry, operations or processes or class of industries that may have implications on air quality in the region. 
• The orders of the commission shall prevail in case there is a conflict between the central pollution control board and the state pollution control boards.
• The commission may take up matter suo motu or on the basis of complaints, the ordinance said, adding that any appeal against any direction of the panel shall lie only with the National Green Tribunal.

Reason behind set up this Commission

• The monitoring and management of air quality in the Delhi NCR region has been done piecemeal by multiple bodies including the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the state pollution control boards, the state governments in the region, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, and the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) of the National Capital Region.
• They in turn are monitored by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF), and the Supreme Court itself, which monitors air pollution as per the judgment in ‘M C Mehta vs Union of India’, 1988.
• The Ordinance seeks to create an overarching body to consolidate all monitoring bodies, and to bring them on one platform so air quality management can be carried out in a more comprehensive, efficient, and time-bound manner.
• The Centre also seeks to relieve the Supreme Court from having to constantly monitor pollution levels through various pollution-related cases.

Composition of this Commission

• The Commission, which will be a permanent body, will have over 20 members, and will be chaired by a retired official of the level of Secretary to the Government of India or Chief Secretary of a state. 
• It will include a representative of the Secretary of the MoEF, five Secretary level officers who will be ex officio members, and two joint secretary level officers who will be full-time members.
• The Commission will also have representation from the CPCB, ISRO, air pollution experts, and three representatives of non-government organisations (NGOs). 
• As associate members, the Commission will have representatives from various other Ministries including the Ministries of Agriculture, Petroleum, Power, Road Transport and Highways, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Commerce and Industry.
• The composition of the body indicates the central government’s push to bring all stakeholders on one platform — this is important because the management of air pollution in Delhi NCR will involve controlling stubble-burning (Agriculture Ministry and state governments), and the control of industrial emissions (Commerce and Industries Ministry), etc.

Power of Commission

• In matters of air pollution and air quality management, the Commission will supersede all existing bodies such as the CPCB, and even the state governments of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. It will have the powers to issue directions to the states.
• The Commission will also coordinate efforts of state governments to curb air pollution, and will lay down the parameters of air quality for the region.
• It will have powers to restrict the setting up of industries in vulnerable areas, and will be able to conduct site inspections of industrial units.

Provision of Penalty

• “Any non-compliance or contravention of any provisions/rules or order/direction of the commission will be an offence punishable with a jail term up to five years or with fine up to Rs one crore or with both,”. 

Challenges

• According to the Ordinance, the committee has been formed to do away with “ad-hoc measures” and to replace them to “streamline participation” from states and experts.
• But the Commission has a large number of members from the central government, which has not gone down well with the states. 
• “It is full of officials from the central government. How will states get a say with just one member each? Taking away any say from the state government is not the way to go further. 
• Also, political differences will also now play a part in the functioning of the Commission because states are not happy with the overarching powers being vested in it.

Road Ahead

• As the new ordinance seeks curtailment of judicial intervention, the executive faces the real challenge of pushing difficult and inconvenient solutions to clean air.
• Therefore, there is a strong interest to know how the executive will now push the solutions on the table that are much tougher than the low hanging fruits already picked. Even the action taken so far (and some of these were tough) could be implemented only with the backing of the Supreme Court directives based upon the Constitutional Principles of Right To Life among others.
• The new move brings urgent attention to the public health crisis that it deserves. But clearly, the expectation is that the executive will live up to the new challenge and suceed in implementing the tough solutions needed to clean up the air and the lungs.

Also Read: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/air/delhi-ncr-air-quality-commission-order-order-to-new-order-74014