New Delhi, July 26 Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday hoped the Supreme Court would take note of her government's plea to allow all fit and non-polluting vehicles to ply in the city without an age cap, a rule that is followed in the rest of the country.
"We have said in the Supreme Court that if a vehicle is non-polluting and has a fitness certificate, then it should not be forced off the road by declaring it an end-of-life (EOL) vehicle," she said on the sidelines of an event in her Shalimar Bagh constituency.
"I hope the SC will consider our plea and offer relief to Delhiites," she said, insisting on making fitness and not age as the main criterion for allowing vehicles to ply in Delhi.
"I believe if a vehicle is polluting, and even if its age is just five, it should not be allowed to ply. But if an old vehicle is fit and its emissions are non-polluting, then it should not be forced to be withdrawn from roads," she said.
The Chief Minister said that the Delhi government must present public opinion on the ban on EOL vehicles before the court, as the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to do much to check pollution in the city.
The Delhi government has approached the Supreme Court, seeking a review of the ban on EOL vehicles, diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles over 15 years, operating in the Delhi-NCR region.
The Rekha Gupta government is urging the court to revisit the 2018 order that enforces the vehicle age cap and instead focus on more targeted, scientific, and equitable measures to combat pollution.
The move marks a significant pushback against an existing Apex Court directive that has drawn criticism for its perceived lack of nuance and disproportionate impact on middle-class vehicle owners.
Earlier this month, citing technological glitches and gaps in the availability of vehicle databases from NCR states, the Delhi government approached the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to put on hold its direction to stop selling fuel to overage and polluting vehicles.
The Chief Minister said a collective ban across the NCR would be the ideal solution for countering the menace of polluting, EOL vehicles.
In its application in the Supreme Court, the Delhi government has requested the Apex Court to direct the Central government or the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to undertake a comprehensive scientific study.
The government's plea argues that the study should assess the actual environmental impact of the age-based vehicle ban and evaluate whether such a measure makes a meaningful contribution to air quality improvements in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The plea emphasises the need to re-examine the effectiveness, feasibility, and fairness of a blanket age-based restriction. Instead, the government advocates for a more refined, emission-based regulatory framework that takes into account individual vehicle emissions and roadworthiness rather than relying solely on age as a disqualifying factor.
"The current approach mandates collective compliance, without distinguishing between heavily polluting and well-maintained, low-use vehicles," the application said. "This does not align with the broader objective of effectively reducing pollution levels in the region."
The Delhi government further highlighted that BS-6 (Bharat Stage 6) vehicles, introduced as a cleaner emission standard, emit significantly fewer pollutants than their BS-4 counterparts. It argued that many vehicles currently impacted by the ban are well-maintained, compliant with emission norms, and used infrequently, factors that result in minimal actual emissions.
According to the application, studies suggest that such low-usage, older vehicles contribute negligibly to overall pollution, raising concerns about the proportionality of the ban.
The government warned that the directive has placed undue hardship on middle-class citizens who may rely on these vehicles for limited but essential transport needs.
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