It is irrational to imagine that a 10-year-old diesel vehicle has reached its end of life despite remaining roadworthy in Delhi, Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena has said, as he urged Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against its 2018 order that banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in the national capital.
In a letter to Ms Gupta recently, the L-G flagged key challenges in the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM)'s restrictions on the movement of such vehicles on the city's roads, and raised concerns over the "inconsistencies, practical hurdles, and disproportionate socio-economic impacts" of such curbs, particularly on the middle class.
He said he has received "innumerable representations, calls and messages" from citizens, public representatives and environmental experts, all of whom have questioned the feasibility and fairness of the order. The fight against air pollution is non-negotiable but its policy implementation must be "proportionate, non-arbitrary and grounded in legal and environmental rationale", he added.
The Delhi government had banned fuel for end-of-life vehicles - 10 years or older for diesel vehicles and 15 years or older for petrol vehicles - that are deregistered and not allowed to ply on the roads from July 1, following a court order. On Thursday, the government requested the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to put the ban on hold with immediate effect, arguing that the fuel ban on overage vehicles is not feasible due to technological challenges.
In his letter to the Chief Minister, the L-G acknowledged the efforts made by her government to ask the CAQM to pause the ban and called the order a violation of the principles of legal certainty and equal treatment.
He highlighted a fundamental policy flaw in equating a vehicle's age with pollution, without accounting for its actual emission levels or mechanical fitness. Such a "blanket" approach, Mr Saxena said, may cause undue hardship to responsible vehicle owners - especially those who maintain their vehicles well or have invested in low-emission, high-end models.
The L-G questioned the CAQM's directive in light of existing national laws, notably the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. He argued that the uniform application of Section 59 of the Act - which allows the central government to prescribe vehicle life - clashes with region-specific restrictions like the 10 and 15-year caps on diesel and petrol vehicles in Delhi.
Besides, he underlined the economic and emotional burden the ban would place on the middle class. "For people of the middle class, buying a vehicle is an investment of hard-earned life savings," he wrote. He criticized the policy for compelling citizens to dispose of well-maintained, low-mileage vehicles at scrap value, merely because of their age and the owner's residence in the Capital.
He warned that such a measure could be seen as discriminatory and regressive, with no such enforcement in other parts of the country.
Mr Saxena acknowledged that vehicular pollution is indeed a contributor to Delhi's air quality crisis but argued that reforms must go beyond "rigid age-based classifications". He recommended that the policy consider factors like retrofitment, emission test outcomes, and vehicle usage patterns - particularly for newer BS-VI vehicles, which are significantly less polluting than their older counterparts.
LG Saxena proposed a multi-pronged approach for the Delhi Government:
- File a review petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, apprising it of the range of infrastructure, transportation, and environmental initiatives taken by the city and Central governments in recent years - including metro expansion, RRTS corridors, electric vehicle policy, and massive greening efforts.
- Engage with the CAQM to reconsider the directive banning fuel to ELVs, and seek a temporary abeyance until the entire NCR is prepared to uniformly enforce such a policy.
- Request the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) to revisit the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules, 2021, in light of legal and practical concerns.
- Draft a comprehensive Air Pollution Mitigation Plan within months with clear timelines, investments, and sector-specific strategies - covering areas such as public transport, electric vehicle incentives, road dust mitigation, and retrofitting policies.
- Launch a public awareness and incentive campaign to encourage vehicle owners to convert old vehicles to cleaner fuels like CNG or electric, rather than outright scrapping.
- The L-G also insisted that environmental policies must be legally sound, socioeconomically sensitive, and grounded in contemporary technological realities. "It would be a travesty of justice," he concluded, "to impound and scrap vehicles that have run a few thousand kilometers and are perfectly maintained, just because of arbitrary age thresholds."
