MUMBAI, Nov. 29 -- The Bombay High Court on Friday appointed a five-member team to inspect construction sites across Mumbai and verify whether they are complying with air-pollution control guidelines laid down by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). The panel has been directed to submit its report by December 15. The BMC has earlier identified construction dust as one of the biggest contributors to Mumbai's deteriorating air. The division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Akhand passed the order while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation concerning the city's worsening air quality. The court took up the matter along with several intervention pleas after senior advocate Darius Khambata and advocate Pooja Thorat jointly mentioned the issue, noting that the city's AQI had crossed 300 this month. Khambata told the bench that despite repeated directions, the BMC had failed to ensure compliance with its own anti-pollution norms. He submitted that although the city has nearly 1,000 construction sites, only about 400 have pollution-monitoring devices, and of those, barely 117 are functional. Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for environmental group Vanashakti, said construction sites continued to generate thick dust clouds and that no meaningful enforcement action had been taken. "No BMC official has been held accountable," he argued. Representing the civic body, senior counsel Milind Sathe said each ward has squads to check violations. "Stop-work notices are issued when discrepancies are found. Work resumes only after compliance," he said. Intervenor advocate Darpan Gupta said that despite the worsening AQI, no health advisory had been issued. He argued that an emergency action plan should be triggered when the AQI crosses 150, including promoting mask usage. Although the court was informed that a committee already exists to oversee pollution-control measures, the bench said an independent assessment was necessary. It appointed a new five-member team comprising one BMC officer, one MPCB officer, two civil society members and a public health expert. The bench also directed the BMC and the state health department to immediately issue a public advisory and suggested distributing masks at railway stations and bus stops. It stressed that accountability-not excuses-would determine whether Mumbai could contain its worsening air-quality crisis....