2001 onwards
Towards the end of 2001, as part of an ongoing public interest litigation on air pollution in Delhi, the apex court took notice of the ugly business of adulteration. It has repeatedly pointed out the merit of the CNG programme in culling this menace. But the Union of India, in its affidavit of October 2001, almost wished away the problem. It claimed that out of the total numbers of samples tested by them throughout that year, only 7.5 per cent had failed. All except one were within the “tolerable limit of tests”. Even that one failure was a mere case of “marginal failure”, only on one parameter.
The Supreme Court was not willing to accept this stand. On November 22, 2001, it directed its advisory committee, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority