NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is going to approach the Supreme Court with a request to review its 2018 order prohibiting the plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi NCR in line with the Centre’s new voluntary vehicle scrapping policy, which looks at the vehicle’s fitness as the criteria for scrapping and not age.
TOI had reported on Wednesday that Delhi transport department has warned owners of ‘end of life vehicles’ of appropriate penal action, which can range from a fine of up to Rs 10,000 or seizure and scrapping of the vehicle, if such a vehicle is found plying on roads. According to sources, the department has been getting many queries from owners of vehicles that are nearing the end of their life. Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot told TOI that now there are specific regulations that allow vehicles that have proper fitness to ply even if these are older but it can’t be implemented in Delhi because of the court ruling.
‘Flooded with queries on vehicle scrapping order’
We will approach the court and we will apprise the court that there has been this development and this is the specific law and if it could please review the order,” Gahlot said. “We have been getting a lot of public queries on this,” he said.
The Supreme Court had on October 29, 2018 prohibited the plying of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the national capital region and directed the transport department to announce such vehicles will be impounded if found plying. Describing the pollution situation in Delhi-NCR as ‘very critical’, the apex court had also said that a list of such vehicles should be published on the website of the transport department.
As per the amended Motor Vehicles Act, plying of old vehicles can invite a fine of Rs. 10,000, which is compoundable to Rs. 5,000. However, as per directions of the Supreme Court, if such a vehicle is found plying on the road, it can be impounded and scrapped by the transport department.
The central government’s policy, which has not been notified yet, allows 20-yearold private vehicles and 15-year-old commercial vehicles to ply after re-registration if the vehicles clear fitness tests. As per the central government’s policy, vehicle owners who fail to get a fitness certificate or fail to renew the registration certificate after 20 years will have to scrap the vehicle. Keeping an old car, however, would become very costly due to the higher cost of getting a fitness certificate for a 20-year-old vehicle.
The Union road transport ministry had also been planning to get legal opinion on whether it should seek a review of the ban on 10 and 15 years old diesel and petrol vehicles and in Delhi-NCR, once the voluntary vehicle scrapping policy is rolled out, TOI had earlier reported. The national policy is based on the principle of and not driven by enforced age criteria.
