The National Capital of Delhi has the dubious distinction of being the most polluted city of the world. The Supreme Court has voiced its concern in a number of cases regarding the need to control the pollution of the national capital by admitting a number of petitions through public interest litigation, which resulted in positive changes on the ground level. But the enormity of pollution levels is increasing day by day. The present Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal has decided to introduce Odd-Even formula to use private vehicular traffic on alternate days so as to prevent air pollution at least by 50%, warranting voluntary restraint by the public. This arrangement has been in vogue in some countries and has proved to be quite successful. However, it raises a number of issues related to freedom to choose, extra-legal actions by the authorities, overindulgence by the public at large in administrative affairs of the government, relegation of public duties by the state administration, etc. In this paper, an effort is made to conduct a socio-legal audit of this state action and its impact on prevention and control of air pollution in the National Capital Territory (NCT) and whether this practice could be used as a role model for the rest of the urbanized areas of the country.

Pollution has remained a global concern which consequently called for international intervention beginning with Stockholm Declaration1, Earth Summit2 and down to the recent Paris Summit 2015.3 Air pollution is not of recent origin; around 8,000 people were killed in London due to great smog in one single year. Similarly, the deaths caused due to air pollution cost ¤161 bn per year to the European Union.4 In India,every year, air pollution is estimated to kill 1.5 million people.5 The National Capital of Delhi is no exception to this phenomenon, where air pollution recorded is extremely high.6 It is considered as the most polluted city of the world. Lungs of 50% of children in Delhi are affected due to poor air quality. Despite intervening measures time and again, the enormity of pollution levels is increasing day by day, having generally an adverse impact on the people which may differ from country to country.7 In the US, particulates cause daily deaths among people aged 65 and above, while in Delhi they have the greatest impact on the people aged between 15 and 44 years. It means, from air pollution, on average, more life-years would be saved in Delhi than in the US.8 In order to prevent this menace, the present Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal has decided to introduce Odd-Even formula to use private vehicular traffic on alternate days so as to prevent air pollution at least by 50%, warranting voluntary restraint by the public. This arrangement has proved quite successful in different cities across the world like Rome, Paris, Mexico, Bogota, and Beijing.9 However, it raises a number of issues related to freedom to choose, extra-legal actions by the authorities, overindulgence by the public at large in administrative affairs of the government, relegation of public duties by the state administration, etc.

Law Review Journal, Prevention, Pollution, Public Restraint, Critical Appraisal, Odd-Even, National Capital, National Capital Territory (NCT), Constitutional Mandate, Environmental Protection, Prevention of Pollution, Delhi.