The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Delhi-NCR authorities to take action against end-of-life vehicles below BS-IV emission standards, tweaking its August 12 order preventing coercive action against owners.
The move will take effect from December 18. End-of-life vehicles refer to 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles.
This comes after the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which said that after the ban on coercive action, more polluting vehicles returned to roads.
"For controlling vehicular emissions, BS-III and below standard vehicles are required to be kept out of purview of order dated August 12, 2025 of the Supreme Court considering the emission potential of these vehicles in comparison to BS-VI emission standards," the commission stated.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Delhi Government, said, "Older vehicles, their emission standards are very poor, and they are adding to the pollution."
The rising AQI in the Delhi-NCR region is attributed largely to vehicular pollution, besides other reasons. According to the pollution watchdog, around 93 per cent vehicles on the roads of Delhi-NCR are two-wheelers and cars. Around 37 per cent of them run on engines with BS III or older emission standards.
Will end-of-life vehicles be impounded?
On Wednesday, Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa introduced measures such as not providing fuel to vehicles without valid PUCC certificates. However, he did not mention anything about impounding vehicles. In July, the Delhi government paused its decision to impound end-of-life vehicles, saying it does not wish to inconvenience citizens.
The minister also gave directions to develop a car-pooling app to cut traffic congestion and provide Rs 2,700 crore over 10 years to the MCD for procuring mechanical road sweepers and litter pickers.
Sirsa said the government will also join hands with Google Maps to track traffic hotspots. "We are tying up with Google Maps to identify 100 hotspots of vehicular pollution. This way, we will be able to initiate measures," he added.
