Mumbai | The Bombay High Court on Friday slammed civic authorities for their "belligerent disregard" of its orders to mitigate air pollution, noting they too are breathing the same impure air and not living in some "alien world" as it warned of halting salaries of top officials.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam warned to stop the salaries of the civic commissioners of both Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for not complying with court orders and failing to take measures towards the deteriorating air quality index (AQI).

There has been a "belligerent disregard" of repeated court orders aimed at controlling air pollution, the HC observed.

"We will stop the salaries of the (civic) commissioners (for non-compliance of court orders). Take this as a warning," it added, while posting the matter for further hearing on January 27.

The court said civic authorities were also breathing the same air as everyone in Mumbai.

"You are not living in some alien world. We are all breathing the same air," the bench remarked.

In 2023, the court had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of increasing air pollution and passed a slew of direction to civic bodies and other authorities to take steps to mitigate air pollution.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) counsel S U Kamdar told the court that the civic body has issued stop work notices to several construction sites and that of the 600 sites where air quality monitors were required, the devices have been installed at around 400 of them.

The HC was, however, not impressed with the submission and pointed out that all these anti-pollution actions had been taken only pursuant to orders from the court.

"What were you doing all these years? We are not here to take stock of the situation every time. It is not the court's job to run the municipal corporation," the court emphasised.

The court sought a detailed report of data on air quality monitoring and directed the BMC to submit daily sensor data for three months prior to November 2025.

"We want the numbers. That will tell the true story," the HC stated.

It noted that the affidavits filed by both BMC and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) lacked ward-wise details and said there seems to be no "genuine and sincere" efforts on the part of authorities to deal with the air pollution issue