NGT ban on old petrol and diesel cars revoked? Govt issues statement

In order to debunk the claims of a false news report that recently went viral across a ton of social media platforms claiming that the National Green Tribunal (India) ban on old diesel and petrol vehicles has been revoked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a statement. The ministry via its official Twitter handle shared a series of tweets through which it stated that this is a false claim and that no such revoke has been implemented.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways tweeted, “A fake news is in circulation in Social Media claiming that MoRTH has issued a notification lifting ban imposed by Hon’ble NGT on vehicles (10 year old for diesel and 15 year old for petrol) in Delhi NCR.” It further added, “It also claims that the RC of such vehicles can be renewed by a payment of Rs 5,000. MoRTH wishes to clarify that the ban imposed by Hon’ble NGT, and upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, is still in force.”

Additionally, the ministry also clarified by stating, “The notification GSR 901(E) dated 22-12-2022, which is in circulation, is published by this Ministry to regulate the trading of in-use registered vehicles and is no way concerned with the ban imposed by the Hon’ble NGT.”

For those who are still unaware, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned all vehicles older than 15 years old from operating in Delhi through an order dated dated November 26, 2014. Furthermore, the Tribunal also stated through an order dated April 7, 2015, that all diesel vehicles older than 10 years old will also not be permitted on the roads of Delhi-NCR. T he Supreme Court also ordered that all diesel cars older than 10 years and all petrol vehicles older than 15 years should not operate in accordance with the National Green Tribunal’s ruling in its judgement dated October 29, 2018.

It was recently revealed at the parliament that the Delhi Transport Department has so far de-registered 54,42,267 vehicles, as on January 31, including 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol/CNG vehicles. It was stated, “The Enforcement Wing of Govt. of NCT of Delhi regularly checks plying of more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles. From January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2023, the enforcement branch had impounded 446 numbers of 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 12,959 numbers of 15-year-old vehicles (petrol/diesel). The impounded vehicles are further being handed over to scrappers.”

In other vehicle ban news, recently the Government of Delhi Government in December of last year issued a circular to ban the use of BS-III petrol and BS-III and BS-IV diesel vehicles in Delhi. The transport department of the Delhi Government announced the new circular after the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) came into action by introducing emergency measures under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The Delhi government announced a ban on all petrol-powered four-wheelers with BS-III emission standards and all diesel-powered vehicles with BS-III and BS-IV emission standards. Vehicles used for official government duties or emergency services that fail to comply with the restriction were exempted. The Delhi Traffic Police has also issued a warning that any vehicle falling into this category that will be found to be breaking the law would be fined Rs 20,000.