GRAP does not mandate work-from-home for Centre staff: Delhi HC

The court said CAQM guidelines give the government discretion, not obligation. The ruling came on a plea by a C-DOT employee citing health concerns.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) to curb pollution does not compel the Centre to allow its employees to work from home, as the guidelines merely confer a discretionary power on the government to permit such arrangements.

New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Commuters travel amidst heavy smog as pollution level deteriorates, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Phot/Naveen Sharma) (Naveen Sharma)

A bench of justice Sachin Datta made the observation while dealing with a petition filed by Shubham Verma, an “E-Scientist” at the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), an autonomous telecommunications technology development body functioning under the department of telecommunications, Government of India.

In his plea, Verma contended that the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had, with effect from November 21, 2025, mandated work-from-home for at least 50% of employees in offices in Delhi, but his organisation had failed to comply with the direction.

Verma claimed that the construction and demolition activities at his workplace caused him medical problems, and that despite applying for work from home, he did not get a response.

The bench, in its ruling, said, “The contention of the petitioner that he is entitled to work from home in terms of the aforesaid guidelines is misplaced inasmuch as a perusal of the paragraph 4(C)(2) of the aforesaid guidelines dated 21.11.2025 reveals that the same vests a discretionary and not a mandatory obligation upon the central government to take an appropriate decision for permitting its employees to avail the work from home facility.”