The Delhi High Court yesterday rejected a legal challenge to driving restrictions aimed at reducing pollution in the smog-choked national capital.
The court said the Delhi government could continue to ban most private cars from the city’s roads on alternate days until Friday, when a 15-day trial of the scheme is due to end.
The restrictions are part of a slew of initiatives announced late last year by the Delhi government, under pressure to improve air quality in the world’s most polluted capital.
A number of challengers had argued that they were not effective in bringing down pollution, and that the city’s public transport system was not up to the task.
“All the petitions challenging the odd-even policy have been dismissed. We will continue with the scheme,” Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party government’s lawyer Rahul Mehra said.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said the court will not “interfere unless the policy is unconstitutional or contrary to the statutory provisions.”
“The law is well settled that on matters affecting policy this court will not interfere unless the policy is unconstitutional or contrary to the statutory provisions or arbitrary or irrational or in abuse of power since the policy decision are taken based on expert knowledge of person concerned and courts are normally not equipped to question the correctness of a policy decision,” the order said.
It added: “Keeping in view that restrictions under the notification dated December 28, 2015 are only for a limited period of 15 days and are stated that the scheme has been enforced as a pilot project to ascertain the reduction, if any, in the pollution levels, we are of the view that the interference by this court is not warranted.”
The court also said in its 12-page order: “Implementation may have caused hardship to a section of the society, however, the power of judicial review cannot be extended to determine the correctness of such policy decision or to find out whether there could be more appropriate or better alternatives.
“It’s neither within domain of the courts nor the scope of judicial review to embark upon an inquiry as to whether a particular public policy is wise or whether a better public policy can be evolved as suggested by petitioners.”
However, the court said the Delhi government should consider such concerns before implementing permanent restrictions.
Authorities have already said the scheme may be extended beyond Friday if it is successful.
Environmentalists have welcomed the restrictions, but say they are unlikely to make a dramatic difference in the short term.
Sources in the Delhi government said it would decide on the next steps only after analysing pollution data and reviewing the progress after Friday.  
In a statement on Sunday, the government said the air pollution caused by vehicular traffic has declined by 50% in the capital.
“More than 50% drop in air pollution primarily caused by vehicular traffic has been recorded according to the latest ambient air data collected by mobile teams of Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Saturday at 18 locations, through mobile dust samplers on using the light scattering technique,” it said.
Delhi High Court Bar Association president Rajiv Khosla, one of the petitioners, said the data submitted by the government was not correct and the particulate matter across the capital showed a rising trend despite the scheme being in place since January 1.
The US embassy in Delhi put PM2.5 levels at 97 yesterday afternoon - lower than earlier in the day, but still nearly four times World Health Organisation safe limit of 25.
PM2.5 refers to microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and are particularly harmful to health.
Delhi’s air quality traditionally worsens in winter as the cooler air traps pollutants and people start lighting fires.
A 2014 WHO survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the 8.5mn vehicles on its roads.