India, Nov. 28 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to accept the Maharashtra government's claim that the recent volcanic eruption in Ethiopia was responsible for the city's deteriorating air quality.

A division bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam stated that the visibility in the city was poor even before the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region erupted on November 23. "Even before this eruption, if one stepped out, visibility was poor beyond 500 metres," the judges said.

The bench made the comment while hearing a bunch of petitions, filed in 2023, concerning air pollution in Mumbai. Senior counsel Darius Khambata and advocate Pooja Thorat had requested the court to urgently take...