Delhi High Court seeks Central government’s reply to PIL directing oil companies to contribute CSR funds to public transport

Delhi High Court seeks Central government’s reply to PIL directing oil companies to contribute CSR funds to public transport

Filed through advocate Sumant Bharadwaj by NGO Tsunami on Road, the plea stated that the transport sector was a major contributor to pollution

The Delhi High Court has sought a response from the Central government on a plea demanding that public and private sector oil companies be directed to contribute funds to public transport services of Delhi-NCR to compensate for the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta has directed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests to respond to the PIL.

The plea was filed by an NGO Tsunami on Road stating that since the transport sector was a major contributor to pollution, the oil companies must contribute to reducing pollution. It sought the court’s directions to oil companies to contribute funds under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The plea said the government must be directed to form a committee of technical and environmental experts to study the public transport systems in and around the national capital and make suggestions. The NGO highlighted that the 2018 report of the Ministry of Earth Sciences had accepted that the transport sector was the major source of emission of PM2.5 (41 percent) and vehicular pollution a significant and most risky pollutant to human health.

The plea stated, "A better public transport system is a dire need for a heavily polluted city like Delhi. This is a universally accepted fact that mass public transport methods are the most important and cost-effective means for reducing air pollution and traffic congestion, especially in 50 lakh plus cities. In Delhi with a population of 1.7 crores, it is expected that 75-85 percent of the public should use it if congestion is to be avoided.”

Filed through advocate Sumant Bharadwaj, the plea further apprised that as per international guidelines, the three most important areas that needed to be covered by CSR were environment, health and education.

The NGO argued that under the Corporate Social Responsibility Policy Rules, 2014, a company must spend at least 2 percent of its profits on CSR.

It maintained that oil companies were amongst the top profit-making companies in the country. Just three of the major companies’ profits amounted to Rs.1 lakh crore.