Plea for faster adoption of EVs to safeguard 'right to breathe'; SC seeks Centre's reply

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court Tuesday seeking direction to the Centre for faster adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) to safeguard citizens' fundamental rights to "breathe, health, and clean environment".

The top court has sought the Centre's response to the PIL, which referred to the comprehensive National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, 2020 (NEMMP-2020) of the Ministry of Heavy Industries that was devised in 2015 to promote and incentivise electric vehicles.

Instead of achieving target of 6-7 millions sales of such hybrid vehicles by 2020, only 0.263 million electric vehicles have been adopted in India, the PIL said.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna was initially reluctant to consider the plea saying that it pertained to the government's policy decision.

The court, which did issue notice on the plea, however took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGOs Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), ...