The Bombay High Court on Thursday said authorities cannot blame ash clouds from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia for air pollution in the metropolis and said the air quality index here has been poor much before that.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was urged to take up hearing into a bunch of pleas from the year 2023 on the issue of air pollution in the city.

Senior counsels Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, said the AQI in the city has been consistently poor and above 300 this month.

Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan said air pollution has worsened due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia two days back.

The court, however, discarded this and said air pollution has been bad much before the eruption of the volcano.

"Even before this eruption, if one stepped out visibility was poor beyond 500 metres," the court said.

The bench, while referring to the situation in Delhi, which is witnessing alarming levels of AQI, asked what effective measures can be taken to address the issue.

"What can be the most effective measures? We are all seeing what is happening in Delhi? What is the effect of that," the bench questioned.

The court posted the matter for hearing on Friday.

Hayli Gubbi, a shield volcano in Ethiopia's Afar region, erupted on Sunday, producing a large ash plume that rose to around 14 kilometres (45,000 feet) in the sky. The plume spread eastward across the Red Sea, and towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent.

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