Supreme Court directs NCR states to compensate construction workers for GRAP-related shutdowns

The Supreme Court on Friday directed National Capital Region states to compensate workers affected by construction bans imposed under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb air pollution, reported Live Law.

The bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that the payments must be made using labour cess funds even without specific court orders, in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act.

The GRAP is a series of emergency measures that are put into place by the Commission for Air Quality Management as pollution levels rise to dangerous thresholds in the National Capital Region – which consists of Delhi and parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan – to prevent air quality from deteriorating even further.

There are four stages of GRAP with varying degrees of restrictions on construction work. Stage 4 is implemented when the air quality index (AQI) climbs to a value of more than 450 and involves a complete ban on construction activities.

“As far as 2024 and 2025 are concerned, we have issued directions to the state to pay compensation,” the court said. “We make it clear that hereafter whenever the construction activities are required to be closed due to implementation of GRAP measures, compensation shall be paid to the affected workers in terms of directions issued…

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