Delhi to ask SC to allow uniform rules on end-of-life vehicles: CM Rekha Gupta
'The parameters that are applicable in the entire country should also apply to Delhi,' she said. 'We want Delhiites not to face any inconvenience.'
Gupta also said that the Delhi government will inform the top court about the pollution control measures that have been taken in the capital and push for parity with national standards, The Indian Express reported.
She criticised previous governments in Delhi, claiming that they had 'never worked on mitigating pollution'.
'That was the reason why they were often slammed by the court,' The Indian Express quoted her as saying. 'In the end, the court and the National Green Tribunal had to take tough steps like this. But now things have changed.'
This came a day after Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena urged the Delhi government to file a review petition before the Supreme Court.
In his letter to Gupta, Saxena had criticised the current rules, saying that it was 'irrational to imagine that a 10-year-old diesel vehicle has reached its end of life in Delhi while remaining roadworthy in other parts of the country'.
Acknowledging the collective responsibility of tackling air pollution, Saxena had emphasised the need for a more balanced, technologically-driven policy on vehicle emissions.
'The policy execution must also reflect principles of legality, fairness and socioeconomic sensitivity,' Saxena said.
In 2018, the Supreme Court banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi as part of efforts to curb air pollution. The ban came into effect July 1.
Under the directive, the end-of-life vehicles would not be allowed to refuel. To enforce the ban, automatic number plate recognition cameras were installed at nearly 350 petrol pumps across the national capital to detect such vehicles.
The same will apply to select areas of the National Capital Region such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Sonipat from November 1, and across the rest of NCR from April 1, 2026.
Delhi has more than 62 lakh end-of-life vehicles, the Hindustan Times cited data from the government's VAHAN database as having indicated.
On Thursday, Delhi's Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa had written to the Commission for Air Quality Management, requesting to suspend its order banning the supply of fuel to old vehicles in the national capital, citing several operational and infrastructural challenges.
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