Diesel vehicles which are 15 years old should be de-registered first: NGT

“RTO Delhi to issue NOC to de-registered diesel vehicles which can be driven in areas with less vehicle density. All diesel vehicles which are more than 15 years old and are BS-I, BS-II to be scrapped and no NOC will be issued,” said NGT.

The NGT has been mulling banning old diesel vehicles especially those over ten years old, off the road in a bid to curb pollution in the state.

NGT also directed DDA to provide land for parking of de-registered diesel vehicles.

The use of over 10-year-old diesel vehicles has already been banned in six cities in Kerala. The NGT was also mulling extending the ban to 15 more cities in the country, with the worst air quality.

The NGT has also directed different concerned departments to submit their reports on air pollution caused by burning garbage. However, trucks have been given relief for some time.

While the NGT moves to ban the use of old diesel vehicles in New Delhi, the ban on the registration of new diesel vehicles above the capacity of 2,000cc still stays. This has led to many carmakers tweaking product strategies and introducing small capacity diesels or petrol variants of their popular diesel vehicles.

In its hearing last week, the Supreme Court demanded the Delhi government to share the data on the number of diesel vehicles, older than 10 years, and petrol vehicles, older than 15 years, that were impounded by the RTO in the past one year. The Delhi government replied that the Delhi RTO has impounded around 3,000 vehicles in the past one year, but have been released since then.

However, according to the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, the authority to de-register old vehicles falls under the regional transport department and not the NGT.

Diesel vehicles older than 15 years are already banned in Delhi.