SC notice on spiked oil

The Supreme Court issued notices to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and IBP, apart from the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments on an application alleging that adulteration of petrol and diesel, with the connivance of company officials and authorities, was a big business in the National Capital Region.

Earlier, the court had issued notice to Hindusthan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) alone, but the oil company complained it could not do anything on its own unless the others involved in the problem were also impleaded.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice V N Khare, gave four weeks to the parties to file their replies. The application was moved by senior counsel Harish Salve, who was acting as the 'friend of the court' in the case dealing with vehicular pollution in Delhi.

He said despite the introduction of CNG as fuel, the pollution in the Capital was way above permitted levels.

Salve also pointed out that the number of motor vehicles in the Capital was shooting up, outnumbering the combined strength of those in the other three metros.

The Chief Justice wondered why a family should own four or five cars, some of them driven by children. There should be some method to control the growth of vehicles like that followed in some foreign countries.

Some days can be declared no-vehicle day, vehicles with even and odd licence numbers allowed on alternate days, some congested parts of the city could be declared out of bounds for vehicles, registration fees could be heavy for additional cars in one family, public transport could be encouraged.

Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohtagi blamed the banks for the phenomenal growth of vehicles as some of them gave loans at Zero per cent interest.

The government vehemently opposed the continuation of Bhure Lal as the commissioner of the Supreme Court to study vehicular problems as he has been appointed to the UPSC.

The judges, however, insisted that whatever post he had held, he could continue with the commissioner's work as he was willing to do it free of charge.

He had been filing fact-finding reports for several years in this case and they have not been quite flattering to the government. The decision on his continuance will be made at the next hearing in February.