Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has expressed hope that the Supreme Court will consider her government’s plea to allow all fit and non-polluting vehicles to ply in the city without enforcing an age cap.
She emphasised that authorities should focus on vehicle fitness and emission standards instead of enforcing arbitrary age limits, which the rest of the country does not uniformly follow.
At an event in her Shalimar Bagh constituency, Gupta insisted that officials should not forcibly withdraw vehicles from the roads if they emit low or no pollution and hold valid fitness certificates, regardless of their age.
She argued, “Authorities should ban polluting vehicles, even if they are just five years old. But they should allow well-maintained older vehicles with clean emissions to remain on the road.”
The Delhi government has formally approached the Supreme Court seeking a review of its 2018 order that bans diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles over 15 years old in the Delhi-NCR region.
The plea calls for more targeted, scientific methods to tackle pollution, rather than a blanket age-based restriction that disproportionately affects middle-class vehicle owners.
Scientific Study Requested
In its petition, the government has urged the Court to direct the Central government or the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to conduct a comprehensive scientific study.
This study would evaluate the actual environmental impact of the vehicle age ban and determine if it significantly improves air quality in the region.
The plea highlights that the current policy does not distinguish between heavily polluting vehicles and well-maintained low-use vehicles, thereby failing to effectively reduce pollution.
The government argues that Bharat Stage 6 (BS-6) vehicles, which meet the latest emission norms, emit far less pollution than older standards and many vehicles under the ban are infrequently used, contributing minimally to overall pollution.
Gupta further noted that the policy has placed undue hardship on many middle-class families relying on these vehicles for essential transport needs.
Earlier, the Delhi government also approached the CAQM to pause restrictions on fuel sales to overage vehicles, citing technical issues and data gaps.
The Chief Minister concluded by emphasising that a unified ban across the NCR region, based on scientific evidence and emission testing rather than age, would be a more effective and fair approach to combat pollution.
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