Vehicular pollution contributes to 20-30% of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 in India. Hence, a PUC certificate is a document which shows the emission levels are on check in a particular vehicle.
Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate today is a very critical document for all combustion powered vehicles, including the ones with CNG kits, plying on Indian roads. It is an attempt by the Government of India to crack down on old vehicles with high emission levels in order to curb air pollution. A PUC is as essential a document as the vehicle’s registration certificate or a driver’s licence.
Lack of a PUC may lead to penalty or prosecution on the vehicle owner. Further, a vehicle cannot be transferred from one RTO to another or even shipped from one state to another without a PUC. In fact, without a valid PUC certificate, one cannot renew the insurance policy of a vehicle.
Yet, a large section of vehicle owners are unaware about the provisions or lack of a PUC certificate. In this article, we’ll look into the implication of not having a valid PUC certificate and how to apply or renew for PUC.
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Penalty for not having a valid PUC certificate
Having a PUC Certificate is mandated by the Government of India under Section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. Therefore, failure to showcase a PUC certificate may lead to imprisonment of up to six months or fine of up to Rs 10,000 or both, according to the transport department. The vehicle owner will also be disqualified from holding their licence for three months, according to a recent public notice issued by the department.
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PUC certificate for new vehicle
For a new vehicle, the PUC certificate is attached to the registration certificate of the car or two-wheeler. Therefore, the owner doesn’t have to apply for a PUC separately. An offline copy of the PUC certificate will be given by the dealership the vehicle is brough from. Further a digital copy of the same can be obtained from the official Parivahan website. The procedure for the same is mentioned below:
- Visit the Parivahan website.
- Click on the “PUC Certificate” tab.
- Enter your vehicle registration number, last five digits of chassis number, and verification code.
- Click on “PUC Details”.
- Print or save your pollution certificate.
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Applying for PUC renewal
A PUC for a new vehicle is valid for 1 year following which it needs to be renewed. For BS6 vehicles, a renewed PUC certificate is valid for the next 1 year. For vehicles below the BS6 emission standards, the renewed PUC is valid for six months for both three-wheelers and four-wheelers.
Vehicle owners can apply for renewal of PUC certificate in two ways– offline and online. However, each time you apply for renewal of your vehicle’s PUC, it needs to be tested at an local emission testing centre which are located at fuel stations, or authorised local testing centre with proper licence. Therefore, to get the PUC renewed, one needs to step out of the house to get their vehicles tested. The steps for the same are mentioned below:
- Take your vehicle to the emission testing centre and position the vehicle as per the instructions stated by the emission testing device operator
- The testing centre operator will insert a device inside the exhaust.
- Start your vehicle and rev the engine so the device can analyse the exhaust emissions.
- The device will display the readings on the computer screen.
- The operator will click a picture of your vehicle’s registration plate and generate the PUC certificate.
- Pay the fees and collect the pollution certificate.
Fees for renewal of PUC certificates vary from state to state. For two-wheelers it is usually anything between Rs 50 to 100, whereas for passenger vehicles it could be anything between Rs 100 to Rs 200.
