Coming straight to the nub of the matter, let ,me begin by first and foremost pointing out that in a landmark decision, the National Green Tribunal has said that diesel vehicles older than 15 years will not get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for sale outside Delhi-NCR. The NGT said “All diesel vehicles which are more than 15 years old and are BS-I, BS-II shall be scrapped and no NOC for transfer of such vehicles will be issued”. This clearly implies that your 15-year-old diesel cars have been sentenced to death by NGT. Therefore, you have to discard them as you can no longer use it in the road for the purpose for which they are meant.

While craving for the exclusive indulgence of my esteemed readers, let me inform them that the NGT has cleared the air on the mechanism to dispose of almost 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi. It said that vehicles older than 15 years will be de-registered first and will not get a no-objection certificate (NOC). Vehicles older than ten years, but less than 15 years will be de-registered in a phased manner thereafter, and such vehicles will get the NOC for sale to only those locations outside Delhi-NCR where vehicle density is low.

For my esteemed readers exclusive benefit, let me also inform them that the green panel ordered the States to identify such locations where “dispersion of air is higher and vehicle density is low”. It said that the Motor Licensing Officers (MLOs) in Delhi will issue NOCs only for those areas which have been identified by the States. Issuing the order, the NGT Bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar said, “Heavy vehicles, including trucks with national permits will not be permitted to enter Delhi, but will be allowed to bypass Delhi through alternate routes.”

Let me bring out here that the Bench emphasized that the de-registration process of diesel vehicles should be “effectively” complied without any default. The Bench said: “However, registration authorities are directed to start the process with reference to oldest vehicles first, that is, diesel vehicles which are 15-year-old should be de-registered first”. The NGT has thus outlined its priorities in very clear terms.

Addressing the issue of what would happen to those vehicles which continue to ply on roads even after they are de-registered considering that the Delhi Police has limited space to store impounded vehicles, the green panel asked the Delhi Development Authority to provide space for parking of de-registered diesel vehicles. The Bench said: “Chief Secretary, Delhi is directed to take up meeting in a week with Commissioner of Police, respective corporations, DDA and others to identify sites for parking purposes”.

Asking the Delhi Government to respond on the issue of capping of vehicles, including private cars, the NGT asked the Delhi Government to take immediate steps to improve and strengthen public transport system and introduce buses which run on CNG hybrid or electric. The NGT asked the Ministry of Heavy Industries to take a view with regard to scrapping of vehicles and publicise benefits associated with it which would be provided to persons who opt for such a policy. The clarification came after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand and advocate Balendu Shekhar, appearing for Ministry of Heavy Industries, told the Bench that food supply chain has been affected by the NGT’s order.

The ASG said that, “I am appearing for people of Delhi who have been hit by the NGT order. The essential services in the national capital have been severely affected leading to massive chaos from all corners”. She further said “I speak for the people of Delhi. Essential services will be hit and there will be chaos.”

The NGT dismissed such fears, saying neither the Centre nor the Delhi government had made a single-effort or policy or policy to resolve the diesel vehicle ban with transport corporations. Earlier the NGT had on July 10 directed the Delhi Government to cancel the registration of all diesel-powered vehicles which are more than 10-year-old from plying in the city.  The Bench had ordered the RTO of the Transport Department in Delhi that after de-registration, it will issue public notice in this regard and supply the list of such vehicles to Delhi Traffic Police which will take appropriate steps in consonance with directions of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal had said that even during the odd-even scheme initiated by the Delhi Government, the ambient air quality did not improve and in fact, the parameters remained on the higher side more than the permissible limits. It had passed the order after noting submissions of the Delhi Police that it has made continuous attempts to stop vehicles which were more than 10 years old from plying on the roads of the national capital. The tribunal had on April 7, 2015 held that all diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old will not be permitted to ply in Delhi-NCR. On November 26, 2014 it had banned plying of all diesel or petrol vehicles which were more than 15 years old.

Delhi will face an acute shortage of ambulances with 813 such diesel vehicles that are more than 15 years old set to be taken off the road as they have been sentenced to death by the NGT’s order. The Delhi government has to de-register diesel ambulances in phases as per the NGT order in move that is likely to take a toll on the city’s crumbling health infrastructure. There is one ambulance for every 4,00,000 residents of Delhi, as opposed to the WHO norm of one for every 50,000 persons. An analysis by the transport department says that out of the total 1,600 ambulances in Delhi, 1210 run on diesel and 991 of them are over a decade old.

NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar said: “The regional transport offices (in the national capital region, or NCR) are directed to start the deregistration process by vehicles that are older than 15 years old and then move to vehicles that are older than 14 years, 13 years, and so on. The move to 10 years will be made gradually.” He also said that no “deregistered” vehicle will be allowed to ply in the NCR, which includes Delhi. He also explained that, “No objection certificates (NOC) will be issued to these vehicles, so that owners can sell them outside the region. Every state was asked to identify areas where the dispersion of air is higher and vehicular density is less. The NOC to sell these vehicles will be given only for such areas.” The complete banning of 15-year-old diesel cars by NGT is a landmark order that will have tremendous environmental implications and one can hope that it will reduce pollution to a very great extent and this alone explains why many legal experts have welcomed this great landmark order by NGT and want it to be implemented fully and at the earliest!

-Sanjeev Sirohi,

Advocate,