A division bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice S H Kapadia directed the secretary of the department of environment and head of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to ``file a detailed affidavit within two weeks, on the steps taken so far to check vehicular pollution and steps intended to be taken.'' The bench expressed confidence that the officers will ``give due considerations to the alarming figures regarding the air quality monitoring conducted at the various traffic junctions in thecity.''

The bench also gave the petitioners leave to implead the Union Ministry of Petroleum and the Mumbai Taximen's Union and the Autorickshaw Union as respondents to the petition. The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has also been asked to file an affidavit on the steps it is taking at its end to controlpollution.

The exhaustive directions came in a petition filed by the Smoke Affected Residents Forum (SARF) that seeks, on the lines of the recent judgement of Supreme Court for Delhi, directions that EURO I and EURO II norms of emission be adopted immediately for vehicles in the state, including cars, taxis, trucks, buses, two and three wheelers.

The directions on filing of affidavits came when the bench accepted the arguments forwarded that no steps were being taken by the state to control vehicular pollution which was reaching alarming heights. Counsel for SARF, M R Pillai, cited statistics showing there was an increase of 131 per cent of carbon monoxide emission recorded where the current level was 7.3 times or 730 per cent of the standard limit of 2 micro grams, per cubic feet of air. Similarly for nitrogen oxide, which showed an increase of 80 per cent.

Speaking for president of SARF, Dr Sandeep Rane, Pillai said as a doctor, the petitioners were aware of the alarming effects on children due topollution. ``The government is afraid of giving information of the number of people affected. All we ask is that a small committee is set up to go into the matter to assist the bench further,'' said Pillai. ``Let the Pollution Under Control certificate (PUC) be made compulsory. Right now, you can get a certificate for payment of a small sum,'' he argued.

The Chief Justice seemed to agree. ``All the rules are only on paper,'' he said, adding that ``the courts are intervening in such matters only because the government does not act on its own.''

However, counsel for Regional Transport Authority, Usha Purohit, argued that steps were being taken to control pollution. She mentioned no fresh taxi permits were being given by the state and that one third of the 50,000 taxis plying in the city had been compelled to switch to compressed natural gas (CNG).

``Since April 1999, the state has stopped giving permits to diesel taxis and in a recent survey, of the 5574 vehicles tested, licenses of 4753 were suspendedsince they did not conform to the standards,'' she stated. She added that a policy that only Compressed Natural Gas vehicles would be used by government servants, was also on the anvil.