The Bombay High Court on Wednesday expressed serious concern over Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality, calling it shocking that the coastal city was recording higher pollution levels than Delhi. The observations were made in a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning noise and environmental pollution.

A Bench of Justice Girish S Kulkarni and Justice Neela Gokhale criticised civic authorities, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the police for failing to effectively implement the Court’s directions to curb air and noise pollution during festivals.

The Court noted that authorities had failed to ensure that organisers obtained prior permission to use sound systems during processions and undertook to comply with prescribed decibel limits. It also expressed concern over the continued use of firecrackers on busy public streets.

“There appears to be routine violations of the orders passed by this Court,” the Bench observed.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Kulkarni highlighted Mumbai’s geographical advantages, including its sea breeze and open spaces, and questioned why the city was still struggling with severe pollution.

“This is shocking. The city has a sea breeze coming, which has a lot of open spaces, the whole openness of the sea, still we are facing this... You should see to it that Mumbai skies are clear,” the Bench remarked.

The Court also expressed concern that Mumbai was surpassing Delhi on pollution indices, noting that visibility in the city had fallen below 500 metres on Tuesday.

Questioning the authorities’ lack of urgency, Justice Kulkarni asked how enforcement officials could sleep peacefully while lakhs of citizens were facing an emergency situation.

In its written order, the Bench criticised the slow pace of administrative action despite its earlier directions.

“We find that, despite the aforesaid orders passed in the present proceedings, the wheels of the official machinery appear to be turning too slowly to comply even with the basic preliminary compliances as ordered by the Court,” the order stated.

The Court further warned that police officials would be held accountable for failing to enforce its directions on noise and firecracker pollution. It said such dereliction could adversely affect citizens’ fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The Bench directed the Mumbai Commissioner of Police to convene a meeting with all police station in-charges, formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), and file an affidavit confirming strict enforcement of the restrictions on firecrackers on public streets and unauthorised sound systems.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the MPCB have also been directed to issue public awareness notices across social media platforms by October 24 and file compliance affidavits.

The matter will be heard next on October 26.

Advocate Anand Pai, along with advocate Lavanya Panicker, assisted the Court as amici curiae. Government pleaders Anjali Helekar and Jyoti Chavan appeared for the State of Maharashtra, while advocate Jaya Bagwe represented the MPCB and advocate Oorja Dhond appeared for the BMC.