Supreme Court Stops Coersive Action Against Owners of Old Vehicles
Supreme Court Stops Coersive Action Against Owners of Old Vehicles
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted relief to owners of petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles over 10 years in the Delhi-NCR.
Directing police and authorities not to take coercive action against them for now. The court also agreed to re-examine its 2018 order banning such vehicles from plying in the region.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Gavai, along with Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria, issued notice and set the matter for hearing in four weeks. “In the meantime, no coercive steps should be taken against the owners of such vehicles,” the bench said.
The Delhi government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, urged the court to recall its earlier order, arguing that the blanket ban was causing hardship and that pollution is not necessarily linked to vehicle age due to advances like BS-VI emission norms. The government proposed a graded, technology-driven policy to assess individual vehicles’ emissions instead of enforcing an age-based prohibition.
A senior citizen, fearing the impounding of his 2011 BMW, also challenged the rule through lawyer Charu Mathur, arguing that bans should be based on vehicle fitness and compliance with Pollution Under Control (PUC) norms, not age.
The Delhi government noted that the 2018 order had not been strictly enforced until last year, when its implementation triggered public backlash. It warned that continuing with the blanket ban could remove roadworthy BS-VI and even compliant BS-IV vehicles from circulation without a scientific basis. The original order, it said, was an emergency measure introduced before the adoption of BS-VI standards, and a fresh scientific evaluation is now needed.
