India, Sept. 17 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the "absolute immunity" granted to farmers in Delhi's neighbouring states for stubble burning, urging the Centre to consider penal provisions under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) law to hold violators accountable.

It also underlined the need for long-term strategies to curb pollution that leads to the toxic haze that grips the capital and its adjoining regions every winter, rather than focussing only on the "five-yearly exercise". By "five-yearly exercise", the court was alluding to elections at the Centre and in states.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran made the remarks while hearing a case on vacancies in s...