SEIZE 10 year-old diesel & 15 year-old petrol cars immediately: Supreme Court to Govt

Coming down hard on the air pollution situation in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), the Supreme Court has directed the transport department of the Delhi government to immediately start impounding cars that are above a certain age limit. Diesel cars older than 10 years and petrol cars older than 15 years are to be immediately seized if found plying on Delhi roads, according to the Supreme Court’s order.

What this means is a large number of older cars will no longer be permitted to ply on Delhi-NCR roads, and to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, the transport department is expected to launch a major drive to impound older vehicles. In fact, the transport department may even enter homes to seize such cars parked in garages, and scrap them by cancelling registration.

The Supreme Court of India has also directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to aggressively advertise that older cars would be impounded if found plying on Delhi-NCR roads. The court asked the CPCB to set up a social media accounts in order to amplify this message and make sure that everyone owning such cars are adequately warned.

Following this, a large number of cars that have crossed the legal age to ply on Delhi-NCR roads are being sold in neighboring states such as Punjab and Haryana at low prices. These cars include ones from luxury marques such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz. Deal hunters are having a field day picking up 10 year+ luxury diesel cars at low prices.

Many car owners are unhappy with the court’s decision as they feel that a well maintained car, even if older than 10 years in case of diesels and older than 15 years in case of petrols, will pollute much lesser than improperly maintained, younger cars. Owners of older cars are also of the opinion that cars that meet emission norms should be allowed to stay on the roads.

Others say that the real cause of air pollution is crop burning in neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and that cars contribute to minor pollution in comparison. Moreover, many older cars run on CNG and LPG, which are much cleaner burning fuels, and the latest directives from the Supreme Court will affect even these cars.

Via TOI