'Weather outside not good at all', says SC judge, rues spike in air pollution

New Delhi, Nov 05: Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Friday said that the weather outside is not good at all while referring to the spike in air pollution level in the national capital post-Diwali celebrations.

Speaking at a book launch, Justice Bhat said, "I will shock you by saying that the only thing good about this morning is this event because the weather outside is not good at all."

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic meter at 6 pm on Diwali day to 410 micrograms per cubic meter at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit.

Recently, the apex court had said that celebration cannot be at the cost of others' health and clarified that while there is no total ban on the use of firecrackers, those fireworks which contain Barium salts are prohibited.

Besides Justice Bhat, Delhi High Court judges Justices Vipin Sanghi and Vibhu Bakhru were the guests of honor at the launch of the book "Finding a Straight Line between Twists and Turns' written by Aseem Chawla. Justice Bhat also spoke on the age of retirement of the judges, saying that they too would like to rest.

"I don't think I and Justice Sanghi share the view that we would like the age of retirement to be extended. I think it is enough. Maybe for high court judges, it should be increased to 65, certainly not beyond that. We too would like to rest,'' the SC judge said.

He added, "I think it's time also that we recognize that younger people also have a role.

With youth, comes fresh ideas. They bring to the table a freshness of inquiry, a fullness of information about contemporary events., which we, old folks, are not only insulated but resistant to."