6 November 2026
The Commission for Air Quality Management announced Stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi and NCR as the air moved close to the severe band. The Graded Response Action Plan is a set of short term emergency measures and is divided into four stages that follow the level of air pollution. The overall AQI for the city settled at 391. Of the 59 monitoring stations in the city, 30 recorded severe air at 9 a.m. and the rest were in the very poor band. Stage 3 bans BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel or lower light motor vehicles in Delhi and in districts including Gurugram and Faridabad. Classes of students up to grade 5 shift to hybrid mode in Delhi and in those districts.
Stages in the plan:
four stages
AQI reading:
391
Vehicles barred:
BS-III
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the Commission for Air Quality Management runs the Graded Response Action Plan, which has four stages that follow the level of air pollution.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CAQM Commission for Air Quality Management — The statutory body for air quality in the National Capital Region and nearby areas.
GRAP Graded Response Action Plan — A staged set of curbs that tighten as air pollution rises.
6 November 2026
Indian Air Force land of 39.5 acres in Delhi, with a sports complex on it, has gone to MoHUA. The transfer followed notices issued by the L&DO to return the land on Lok Kalyan Marg. The land office is the custodian of central government land in the capital and had sought the parcel back. A joint team of the Defence Estates Office and the L&DO will survey the parcel to fix its boundaries. The handover is part of a wider review of prime land parcels near Lok Kalyan Marg. Land housing the Air Force Golf Course had earlier been sought by the MoHUA.
Area handed over:
39.5-acre
Ministry receiving it:
MoHUA
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the L&DO holds central government land in Delhi and that MoHUA is the ministry it reports to.
UPSC
In plain words
MoHUA Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs — The Union ministry for urban development and housing.
L&DO Land and Development Office — The office that manages central government land in Delhi.
6 November 2026
The Delhi High Court has exempted its staff and lawyers from the winter entry restriction on vehicles registered outside the capital that are below BS-VI standards. The exemption applies only on court working days. The plea came from the Delhi High Court Bar Association, which sought permission for advocates living in the National Capital Region, including Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad, to drive into the capital for professional work. The restriction rests on a notification of the Department of Environment and Forests of the Government of NCT of Delhi. The notification bars such vehicles for a fixed winter window and also empowers the department to exempt categories of vehicles. The order is an example of a court reading an exemption power in a pollution notification.
Standard in the ban:
BS-VI
Exemption applies on:
court working days
Petitioner body:
Delhi High Court Bar Association
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the Department of Environment and Forests of the Government of NCT of Delhi can exempt categories of vehicles from a winter entry ban.
UPSC
In plain words
NCR National Capital Region — The planning region around Delhi that takes in parts of nearby States.
6 November 2026
The Delhi High Court has ruled that the film Doosra violates the personality and publicity rights of Sourav Ganguly. Justice Tejas Karia said the rights of Ganguly are so woven into the story that the infringing parts cannot be cut out of the film. The court directed the makers, Ramesh Deo Productions Private Limited, to carry a disclaimer in Hindi and in English at the start and the end of the film. The disclaimer must state that he did not consent to the use of his persona. The makers were also told to furnish an unconditional bank guarantee of 2 crore with the court registrar. The makers were warned that failure to comply would bar any commercial use of the film. The suit cited his captaincy in the NatWest series final and other life events.
Guarantee ordered:
2 crore
Remedy ordered:
disclaimer
Producer:
Ramesh Deo Productions
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that publicity rights can be enforced by a disclaimer and a bank guarantee, and that Sourav Ganguly led India in the NatWest series final.
UPSC
In plain words
Publicity rights Publicity rights — The right of a person to control commercial use of their identity.
6 November 2026
A full bench of the Delhi High Court has reserved its view on a reference about territorial jurisdiction in intellectual property disputes. The reference followed a 246-page judgment by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, who had said that the territorial jurisdiction of the court was stalling intellectual property suits. The judgment also took a dim view of the court entertaining such suits with little connection to the capital. The bench of Justices C Hari Shankar, Jyoti Singh and Vinod Kumar heard lawyers who questioned several findings. Counsel were told that this reference is not an appeal from the decision of the single judge. The outcome will shape where a trademark or copyright owner can sue.
Length of the judgment:
246-page
Judge who wrote it:
Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that a full bench of three judges decides a reference on territorial jurisdiction, and that Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure sets the place of suing relied on in intellectual property suits.
UPSC
In plain words
IP Intellectual property — Rights over creations such as marks, designs, patents and copyright.
Full bench Full bench — A bench of three or more judges that settles a question of law.
Background
Article 239AA came in with the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991, and it renamed the Union territory of Delhi. The territory is called the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and its administrator is designated as the Lieutenant Governor. Legislative Assembly members are chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies, while Parliament fixes the number of seats by law. Assembly laws may cover the State List and the Concurrent List as those apply to Union territories, with exceptions: the State List entries numbered 1, 2 and 18, together with Entries 64, 65 and 66 as far as they touch those three. A law made by Parliament prevails where the two clash, unless the Assembly law was reserved for the President and got his assent; even then Parliament may at any time pass a law on the same matter, adding to, amending, varying or repealing the Assembly's law. Council of Ministers strength is capped at ten per cent of the total members of the Assembly, with the Chief Minister at its head. If the Lieutenant Governor and his Ministers differ, the matter goes to the President, and urgent action may be taken meanwhile. These Ministers are collectively responsible to the Legislative assembly.
Marginal note:
Special provisions with respect to Delhi
Inserted by:
Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991
Ceiling on Ministers:
not more than ten per cent
Subjects kept out:
Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List
Why it matters for exams: Article 239AA is the one Article that an examiner can build a whole Delhi question on: the Lieutenant Governor, the ten per cent ceiling and the three State List entries kept out.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Delhi Development Authority was constituted by the Central Government through a notification in the Official Gazette. A body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, it can hold property, contract, sue and be sued. Section 3 of the 1957 Act makes the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi its chairman, ex officio. Central Government appointees fill three further posts: a vice-chairman, a finance and accounts member and an engineer member. Legislative Assembly members also sit on it, three of them elected by means of a single transferable vote; two of the three come from the ruling party and one from the opposition. No Minister of the Delhi government may be elected to it, and three more members are nominated by the Central Government, one of them with experience of town planning or architecture. The Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is a member ex officio. An elected member holds office for a term of five years and is eligible for re-election, but that term ends as soon as he stops being a member of the body that elected him.
Chairman:
Lieutenant Governor
Appointed by the Central Government:
vice-chairman
Term of an elected member:
five years
Civic officer who is a member:
Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Why it matters for exams: The chair of the Delhi Development Authority, the authority that appoints its vice-chairman and the civic officer who sits on it are standard questions on urban bodies.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is the body charged with the Municipal Government of Delhi under Section 3 of its 1957 Act. A notification of the Central Government in the Official Gazette fixed the date from which it came into being. Councillors reach it by direct election from the wards of the city, on the basis of adult suffrage. The Administrator nominates ten persons of not less than 25 years of age who have special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, and they cannot vote in its meetings. Seats also go to representatives of the House of the People and the Council of States from the area, and to as nearly as possible one-fifth of the Legislative Assembly members nominated by the Speaker by rotation every year. Central Government notifications fix how many seats there are, and the statutory ceiling is two hundred and fifty. Scheduled Castes seats are reserved in proportion to population at each census. Seats are then reserved for women: not less than one-half of the Scheduled Castes seats for women of those castes, and not less than one-half of the rest for women generally.
Statutory ceiling on seats:
two hundred and fifty
Nominated experts:
ten persons
Minimum age for a nominated member:
25 years
How councillors are chosen:
adult suffrage
Why it matters for exams: The ceiling on its seats, the age bar for a nominated member and the fact that nominated members have no vote are the examinable parts of the 1957 Act.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Delhi High Court Act, 1966 set up a High Court of its own for the Union territory of Delhi. A Circuit Bench of the High Court of Punjab had dealt with cases arising there until then, with the Delhi Administration paying the Punjab Government the cost of that Bench. Section 3 leaves it to the Central Government to appoint, by notification, the day from which the new court exists. The principal seat is at Delhi, unless the President appoints another place by notified order. Judges and Division Courts may sit elsewhere as well, as the Chief Justice may appoint with the approval of the President. Salaries and allowances of its Judges are expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. Jurisdiction passed to it from the High Court of Punjab, along with the power to approve, admit, enrol, remove and suspend legal practitioners. Where a single Judge exercises ordinary original civil jurisdiction, an appeal lies to a Division Court of the same High Court.
Act number:
Act 26 of 1966
Bench that served Delhi earlier:
Circuit Bench of the Punjab
Fund that pays the Judges:
Consolidated Fund of India
Appeal from a single Judge:
Division Court
Why it matters for exams: The Act that created the High Court of Delhi, the court that served the territory before it, and the fund that pays its Judges are all standard questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Article 239A, inserted by the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, allowed local legislatures for some Union Territories, but Delhi was left out of it. Delhi instead got an Interim Delhi Metropolitan Council with an Executive Council, under the Delhi Administration Act, 1966. The provisions of that Act took effect in 1966, and the Council lasted until 1990. Prior to that Act the administrator of the territory held the title of Chief Commissioner, and he was then designated Lt. Governor. The Metropolitan Council was the deliberative wing of the Delhi Administration, devised as a compromise rather than a house with full legislative and financial powers. The 1966 Act, in section 30, put the Lt. Governor under the general control of the President, who could also give him particular directions. Members of the Executive Council were appointed by the President, and the Chief Executive Councillor functioned as Leader of the House. Chairman and Deputy Chairman were elected by the Council from amongst its own members by a majority vote.
Set up under:
Delhi Administration Act, 1966
Council ended in:
1990
Earlier title of the administrator:
Chief Commissioner
Leader of the House:
Chief Executive Councillor
Why it matters for exams: The body that preceded the Delhi Legislative Assembly, the Act behind it and the earlier title of the administrator are the facts an examiner picks from this phase.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Delhi has 85 sq. km of recorded forest, which the forest department puts at 5.73% of the geographic area. Reserved and Protected Forests account for 91.76% and 8.24% of that forest area. Ridge, the rocky outcrop of Aravali hills in Delhi, was notified as Reserved Forest under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the department still lists it under Proposed Reserved Forests, because the final notification under Section 20 awaits the settlement of rights, claims and objections. The Ridge comes in four parts, the Northern, the Central, the South-Central and the Southern. Northern Ridge, of 87 ha, lies near Delhi University and is held by several agencies at once. Central Ridge has 864 ha, and the South-Central Ridge 626 ha. Southern Ridge is by far the largest, at about 6200 ha, much of it village common land handed over for afforestation. Supreme Court orders in a writ petition have directed that the ridge be kept in its pristine glory.
Recorded forest area:
85 sq. km
Share of the geographic area:
5.73
Act under which the Ridge is notified:
Indian Forest Act, 1927
Largest part of the Ridge:
Southern Ridge
Why it matters for exams: The Ridge is the Aravali outcrop inside a metropolis, and a question can ask for its four parts, the Act under which it is notified or the share of forest in Delhi.
Kerala PSCUPSC