SC order, enforcement lapse allow overage vehicles to ply: CAQM

The Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has told the Supreme Court that the lack of tough enforcement and an order by the top court have allowed overage or ‘end of life’ vehicles (ELVs) to continue plying in Delhi and pollute the air. More than 63 lakh overage vehicles are plying in the national capital, the commission told the court.

The pollution watchdog, represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, said its efforts to remove such vehicles from the roads have been hampered by inadequate coercive action and by the Supreme Court’s August 12 order lifting restrictions on ELVs. The CAQM had announced a ban on the refuelling of overage vehicles in Delhi from July 1 and directed authorities to impound overage vehicles in compliance with a 2018 order by the apex court upholding the National Green Tribunal’s ban on ELVs — diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years — in Delhi-NCR. However, on August 12, the court stayed its 2018 verdict, spelling relief for commuters.

“Towards controlling vehicular pollution caused by old/end-of-life vehicles with much inferior emission standards, the commission has taken up with the States concerned and the GNCTD to strictly ensure that petrol/diesel vehicles more than 15/10 years old do not ply in the NCR… Progress, however, has been far from satisfactory,” the CAQM said.

It noted that BS-III vehicles have already crossed 15 years, BS-II vehicles over 20 years, and BS-I vehicles nearly 24 years. Despite their “higher polluting potential”, these vehicles continue to run on the Capital’s roads.