On Thursday, the national capital recorded an improvement in its air quality but the situation took a turn for the worse on Friday morning. According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the AQI of Delhi on Friday was 314 on Friday. The air quality of Delhi was in the 'very poor' category.

Due to the presence of PM 10 and PM 2.5 pollutants, the air quality of Chandni Chowk stood compromised. On the other hand, Lodhi Road witnessed an improvement as PM 10 pollutants were at 184.

Punjabi Bagh had an AQI of 225, Alipur had an AQI of 191, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium recorded an AQI of 257. Meanwhile, Sector 125 of Noida had an AQI of 302 and Greater Noida had an AQI of 347.

An AQI within 0-50 is considered to be 'good', 51-100 is termed as 'satisfactory', 101-200 is 'moderate', 201-300 is said to be 'poor' while an AQI from 301-400 is 'very poor', 410-500 is 'severe' and above 500 is 'severe plus' emergency category.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of India resumed its hearing on the deteriorating air quality of the national capital. The apex court observed that the poor quality of air in Delhi was causing its residents to choke. A bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Deepak Gupta heard a petition submitted in relation to Delhi's air pollution and reprimanded the government for inaction.

Chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana were present during the hearing. The SC slammed the governments for turning a blind eye towards the woes of the people and asked them to take immediate action. The court directed the chief secretaries to submit a seven-day plan to curb stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.

The bench called the government's approach "very unfortunate" and said, "You (the governments) have forgotten the concept of welfare government. They are not bothered about poor people, this is very unfortunate." The bench observed, "You just want to sit in your ivory towers and rule. You are not bothered and are letting people die. "

The apex court told the Delhi chief secretary,  "You cannot deal with road dust, construction and demolition or garbage dumping. Why are you holding the post?". When the chief secretary of Punjab tried to produce an explanation for government's inaction over stubble burning, Justice Mishra said, "You will be suspended today. You will not be able to perform another day's work".