A group of parents has approached the Delhi High Court demanding an immediate suspension of outdoor sports trials and tournaments for schoolchildren conducted between November and January, citing life-threatening exposure to the city’s winter smog. The petition, filed on behalf of several minor students, argues that forcing children to play in hazardous air conditions violates their fundamental rights to health, clean air, and education under Articles 21 and 21A of the Indian Constitution.
Filed through their legal guardians, the plea points out that zonal, inter-zonal, state, and national-level athletic competitions are routinely scheduled during Delhi’s pollution peak, when air quality indices remain in the “severe” and “hazardous” categories. At the time of filing, the city was already under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP-III), with officials warning that the situation could escalate to the emergency GRAP-IV stage. Petitioners allege that this scheduling pattern reflects government apathy despite decades of scientific and medical evidence on air toxicity levels in the capital.
The petition draws upon expert warnings issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and several Indian research bodies. These studies link prolonged inhalation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to irreversible lung damage, reduced cognitive performance, and heightened cardiovascular strain in children. Doctors have repeatedly identified adolescents and younger children as a “vulnerable group” highly susceptible to the physiological effects of polluted air. The plea argues that instead of exposing children to outdoor sports during these months, authorities should reschedule tournaments to safer periods of the year.
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Citing past precedent, the petition references a 2023 order issued by Delhi’s Directorate of Education that temporarily suspended all outdoor activities because the toxic haze posed a direct threat to student health. However, the order was soon withdrawn, and competitions resumed despite no substantial improvement in air quality. “Authorities cannot plead ignorance of the recurring emergency,” the petition states, calling the repeated scheduling of events during pollution peaks both “arbitrary and negligent.”
Parents have appealed for immediate judicial intervention, asking the High Court to direct government departments, sports associations, and schools to suspend all outdoor sporting events until air quality improves to safe levels. They have also requested the court to frame long-term guidelines ensuring environmental health and child safety in academic calendars. The case underscores growing public frustration over what many see as an annual failure to protect young citizens from Delhi’s worsening air pollution crisis.
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