SC Orders No Coercive Action Against End-of-Life Vehicle Owners; Next Hearing in 4 Weeks

Tuesday The Supreme Court refused to intervene further in the case of end of life vehicle owners, who became the object of a profitable business in the field of waste recycling.

Issuing a notice to the Delhi government on its application to reconsider its order in 2018 banning 10-year diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles, the Supreme Court said it will hear the case after four weeks.

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The order was passed by a bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and solicitor general Tushar Mehta indicated that the court should give a notice since the matter needs to be considered.

“What happens is I have a vehicle I use from home to the court and then back…it could be 2,000 km. So I have to sell that vehicle after 10 years. Some other vehicles used as a cab may run 2 lakh km in one year," Mehta argued.

Nonetheless, the SC stated that it cannot give a notice without a hearing of the other party. “Issue notice. Returnable in four weeks. In the meantime, no coercive steps to be taken on ground that they are 10 years (diesel) and 15 years old (petrol)," the bench said.

Delhi government has gone to the court and challenged the ban on end-of-life vehicles since they discriminate the middle classes and lack scientific reasoning. The appeal comes after protests to the directive were made by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and also to note the relentless pollution control technology.

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WHAT IS THE END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES PROBLEM?

The most fundamental problem is the policy implemented a decade ago which does not allow diesel vehicles more than 10 years and petrol vehicles more than 15 years to ply on the road. The question that has been raised by the petition is whether it should be based on the age of a vehicle only, or rather the emission level and timing with compliances as with Bharat Stage VI requirements should be the determining factor to end-of-life policy?

The regulation is based on a 2015 ruling of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which declares that the older diesel and petrol vehicles are not to be permitted to circulate, park, and also on pump in the common space. In 2018, the SC backed this decision because of the crippling levels of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR. On July 1, the CAQM recently requested fuel stations to withhold supply of petrol and diesel to these end-of-life vehicles.

However, the government policy ceased two days after due to a storm of critics. Then in a U turn, the Delhi government stated that age must not be the sole criterion to prevent the same vehicles to stop plying on the roads.

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