“Delhi Worst Affected By Air Pollution, Laxity Can't Be Tolerated”: Supreme Court Directs To Fill 204 Vacancies In Pollution Control Committee

The Supreme Court recently directed the Delhi Government to fill all vacancies in its Pollution Control Committee by September 30, 2025, warning that failure to do so would amount to aggravated contempt.

A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed this direction while hearing a suo moto contempt case concerning the non-fulfilment of vacancies in the pollution control boards and committees of Delhi and other NCR states.

“We cannot tolerate laxity being shown by the government especially when Delhi is worst affected in terms of air pollution at least three months in every year”, the Court said in its order, referring to the issue of severe air pollution every year in Delhi during winter.

It directed the state to fill all 204 vacancies by September 30, 2025. The court warned, “We make it clear that if all the vacancies are not filled in, it will be a case of aggravated contempt.”

The Court had earlier issued contempt notice against the Chief Secretary of Delhi, after noting high vacancy levels in the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi took the bench through the current vacancy figures and the status of the recruitment process. As per the affidavit submitted by the Delhi Chief Secretary, of the 204 vacancies out of 344 sanctioned posts, only 83 have been filled, the court noted. The recruitment process for 36 additional posts is ongoing.

Justice Oka remarked, “The maximum issue is in Delhi of pollution.”

The Court directed the Delhi Government to begin the process of filling anticipated vacancies at least six months in advance and stated that non-compliance with this direction would also be treated as aggravated contempt. The Court listed the matter on October 21, 2025.

“We direct the state government to start the process of filling in anticipated vacancies at least 6 months in advance. Even non-compliance of this shall be considered aggravated contempt.”

The Court earlier issued contempt notices to the Chief Secretaries of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan for failing to comply with the direction in its August 27, 2024 order to fill all vacancies in their respective Pollution Control Boards and Committees by April 30, 2025.

At that time, the Court found that 55 percent of posts in the Delhi Pollution Control Committee were vacant, rendering it virtually non-functional. Similar vacancy levels were noted in other NCR states: 35 percent in Haryana, 45 percent in Rajasthan, and 45 percent in Uttar Pradesh. The Court had observed that this constituted a wilful breach of its earlier order.

Case no. – SMC(C) No. 1/2025 

Case Title – In Re : Filling Of Vacant Posts In The State Pollution Control Boards And Pollution Control Committees

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