India, Dec. 17 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi government's decision to shift students up to Class V from a hybrid system to fully online classes, citing the serious health risks posed by air pollution to younger children and holding that such choices are best left to policymakers.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant lamented that despite repeated interventions, most measures taken so far to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR appeared to have "failed". Given the extreme situation and the fact that the winter break for schools was imminent, the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said there was no reason to upset what it described as a temporary arrangement....