MURALI PURUSHOTHAMAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Shri. Murali Purushothaman is an advocate practising in the High Court of Kerala. He filed this Original Petition for espousing a public cause of great moment. It is an undeniable reality that the air on and around most of the public roads in Kerala is saturated with carbon monoxide emitted from fuel propelled automobiles. Petitioner has focussed attention on the consequences of air pollution created through uncontrolled and unmitigated automobile spitting and hence prays for appropriate directions to be issued to the officials concerned for enforcing the statutory measures to reduce the gravity of the problem.

(2.) According to the petitioner, the gaseous pollutants emitted by vehicles plying through the streets of Kerala are highly harmful and hazardous to living creatures, particularly human-beings. Petitioner contends that inhalation of such pollutants leads to diseases like cancer and tuberculosis and points out that statutory provisions for reducing the density of such hazardous substances emitted by automobiles have not been implemented by the authorities.

(3.) Automobiles can be ranked as one of the chief sources of air pollution. Vehicles pump out billows of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides into the air by burning gasoline. Problem of air pollution through automobiles plying on the roads in Kerala has been gradually snowballing into a dimension of threat to life, though such problem is not peculiar to this State. I am told that some other State Governments have adopted measures to contain the problem to a great extent in cities like Bombay and Bangalore.