In a recent development, the Supreme Court of India has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that asked for public and private sector oil companies to utilise their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds towards public transport.
The PIL
The PIL, filed by Dr. Sanjay Kulshretha from Tsunami on Roads NGO, has argued that in order to reduce health hazards caused by severe air pollution in Delhi and other most polluted cities, oil companies should be asked to contribute towards public transport services, directing them to compensate for environmental damage occurring due to burning of fossil fuels.
Dr. Kulshretha said at the hearing, “This air pollution has taken epidemic form in killing 21 lac people in India because of the fine particles. It is not only affecting all age-groups but also affecting the newborn and the foetus…All over the world, the most cost-effective means of reducing pollution is public transport system.”
In the PIL, Dr Kulshretha has asked that the EPCA must be directed to supervise and make guidelines to ensure appropriate use of the CSR funds for improving the public transport system of selected heavily polluted cities.
The petition also sought directions to the EPCA to utilise part of CESS lying with the CPCB [collected under heads; environment protection charges (EPC) and environmental compensation (EC)] for improving public transport also besides other environment protection activities.
To control air pollution, the PIL said that it is a universally accepted fact that the public transport system is the most important and cost-effective means for reducing dirty air and traffic congestion.
“Even in the most developed countries, instead of more and more roads and flyovers, they are giving more stress to alternative plans in terms of mass transport. In a developing country like India it may not always be possible for the government to provide adequate subsidy or financial help to the transport sector, so in that case public transport may be helped through CSR,” the PIL said.
Dr. Kulshretha also added that the funds could be utilised to clear the financial losses suffered by Delhi Metro. He said: “This metro[Delhi] is under losses of 250 crore. DTC is under loss. the combined loss is 750 crores. Most part can be given to public transportation system to attract [people]. There is rich class that needs comfort and safety and then there is poor class. We need to help them.”
Supreme Court’s Decision
The apex court heard the case and decided to dispose of the PIL. The Bench of bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and NK Singh stated that the Court cannot direct how companies need to utilise their CSR funds. The Court rather than dismissing the writ petition, disposed it of reserving liberty to the petitioner to make appropriate representation(s).
Further, the court also clarified, that it is not the responsibility of oil companies to compensate the losses suffered by the DTC.
