Supreme Court PIL Addresses Critical Air Pollution Health Emergency Across India

The petition highlighted that monitoring infrastructure remains "inadequate".

New Delhi:

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been submitted to the Supreme Court requesting immediate judicial action regarding the "nationwide public health emergency" resulting from worsening air pollution across India.

The petition, submitted by wellness advocate and Fit India Movement champion Luke Christopher Countinho, argued that despite comprehensive statutory frameworks and repeated policy announcements, air quality in both urban and rural areas continues to be "consistently poor, dangerous, and violative of the fundamental right to life".

"The crisis has reached a point where more than 1.4 billion citizens are forced to breathe toxic air daily - a direct violation of Article 21," the plea stated.

The writ petition emphasized that annual averages of PM2.5 and PM10 in major metropolitan areas including Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, and Patna consistently exceed the permissible limits established under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as notified by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

It also pointed out that PM2.5 concentrations are recorded at approximately 105 microgrammes/cubic metre, nearly 20 times higher than the WHO's recommended safe limit of 5 microgrammes/cubic metre.

"This persistent and systemic failure has occurred despite the Air Act, the Environment Protection Act, the National Clean Air Programme (2019), and multiple regulatory bodies, including the Commission for Air Quality Management," the petition argued, further stating that monitoring infrastructure remains "inadequate" and implementation "weak, fragmented, and largely symbolic".

"Air pollution has evolved beyond being merely an environmental issue - it is now a rapidly expanding industrial and policy sector, reflecting both the severity of the crisis and the opportunity for systemic intervention," the petition noted.

It argued that even for citizens who maintain wellness practices focused on yoga, nutrition and lifestyle modifications, "the very foundation of health - access to clean air - is denied", undermining national health initiatives and exposing millions to severe respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological risks.

The PIL has requested the Supreme Court to issue time-bound directives to ensure meaningful reduction of ambient air pollution, strengthen the country's monitoring infrastructure with adequate coverage across both urban and rural regions, and effectively enforce the Air Act and other environmental legislation.