Air pollution in Delhi-NCR is a problem of governance as much as of science. Discuss the role of CAQM and suggest structural reforms beyond episodic emergency measures.

In November 2026 the Supreme Court called vehicle and construction bans "old, tried and failed tools". The Centre replied, "we are only doing management" [1]. The exchange shows the real problem: the science of Delhi's smog is increasingly known, but the governance has not acted on it.

Role of CAQM

• Statutory apex body under the CAQM Act, 2021. It replaces the fragmented CPCB/SPCB arrangements across Delhi and its adjoining States with one airshed-level authority.
• Runs GRAP through its Sub-Committee. Restrictions rise in stages as AQI worsens. The schedule was tightened in Nov 2025, with staggered office timings moved to Stage II [2].
• Builds the evidence base. It reviewed a Supreme Court-mandated report by 33 experts, which found that PM2.5 is the key pollutant and that both local and transboundary sources contribute [3]. It also set up an expert committee on vehicular emissions [4].

Governance gaps

• Reactive design: GRAP acts only after the air is already bad. The Court noted that "very poor" AQI is now "normal" [1].
• Policy–science mismatch: construction bans are used mostly in winter, yet dust is only about 17% of winter PM2.5 [5].
• Federal fragmentation: some measures are left to State discretion [2], and transboundary pollution lies outside Delhi's control [3].
• Uneven burden: construction and informal workers lose wages, while high-emitting sources face less pressure.

Structural reforms

• Science-led triggers: use the new AATAL laboratory and AIRWISE 72-hour forecasts [6] to act early against the specific sector driving pollution, instead of imposing blanket bans.
• Single official source study: a CAQM-endorsed, season-wise source apportionment, so departments cannot shift blame onto each other.
• Airshed targets: binding PM2.5 reduction targets for each State and each sector, with public annual reporting. Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei set a shared regional target and cut coal use [7].
• Sectoral transition: clean fleets (BS-VI, EVs, public transport), ex-situ crop-residue markets, and cleaner industrial fuels.
• Outcome metrics: judge NCAP by reductions in PM2.5, not mainly PM10.
• Time-bound judicial oversight under Article 21: courts should ask for year-on-year falls in baseline pollution, not just fewer "severe" days.

CAQM has the mandate and, more and more, the science. What it lacks is a governance design that turns data into accountable, region-wide reductions at the source. If GRAP becomes a backup to that long-term plan rather than the plan itself, Delhi-NCR can move from managing smog to securing the citizen's right to clean air under Article 21, in line with SDG 11.6.