Delhi govt lays down rules to seize,scrap, reuse end-of-life vehicles

City residents whose “end-of-life” vehicles have been impounded by authorities for violating environmental norms can now get them released after paying a fine – ₹10,000 for cars, and ₹5,000 for two-wheelers – and giving an undertaking that they will not be driven on city roads, and that the owners have a personal parking space, according to new government guidelines issued on Tuesday.

The rules, issued by the transport department, direct officials in the handling of thousands of so-called end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), that are either illegally plying on city roads or parked in public spaces, fixing detailed rules for initiating action against such vehicle users and allowing them to sell them off in states where restrictions on old vehicles do not exist, senior transport department officials aware of the matter said.

No vehicle which is older than 15 years is allowed to operate on Delhi roads, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018). For diesel vehicles, this time period is 10 years. These rules are meant to cut down on the number of vehicles on the city’s roads with dated emission standards.

The officials said that the department has uploaded the “Guidelines for Handling End of Life Vehicle (ELV) in Public Place 2024” on its website on Tuesday, and added that the rules were framed in compliance of the Delhi high court orders issued in August 2023.

Between March 29 and August 22 last year, the transport department conducted a drive against the use of ELVs which were being used or parked in public places. The drive was halted by the transport department on August 22, on the day the Delhi high court, dealing with a clutch of petitions against impounding of ELVs, directed their release provided the owners submit an undertaking that they will park ELVs in private spaces, or will not use them in Delhi.

During the drive, 14,500 vehicles such as cars, bikes and others were impounded from different parts of the city. About 150 of the impounded vehicles were released after the owners submitted the undertaking, and the rest of the vehicles were scrapped by registered vehicle scrappers, transport department officials said.

According to the guidelines, the owner of vehicles which will be impounded in subsequent drives now can get them released after paying a penalty and giving an undertaking that they will not be used in Delhi or left parked on public land.

However, if the vehicle owner violates the conditions, and the vehicle gets impounded again, ELV will not be released again.

Officials said the drive against ELVs will not be relaunched before June, allowing the owners to apply for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC), which can be used to register the vehicle again in select states.

“We have kept a three months window from today (February 20) to allow people who want to take NOC from the transport department to move their vehicles out of Delhi-NCR. All vehicles regardless of when they hit ELV status, can apply for NOC. After the window closes, we will run awareness campaigns for at least two weeks and finally in June we plan to launch drive against ELVs,” said an official, who asked not to be named.

The guidelines, however, said that vehicles which have completed one year after hitting ELV status will not be given NOC after May 20, 2024.

According to the guidelines, signed by a transport department special commissioner, said a four-wheeler owner will have to pay a penalty of ₹10,000, along with towing charge and parking fee as notified in Parking Rules 2019 before getting it releasing from the department. In case of a two-wheeler, a penalty of ₹5,000 will be charged.

The document said that a parking space allotted to the owner inside a residential complex will be considered as a private parking space. To ensure that the such vehicles are not parked on public land, the owner will have to furnish a proof of private parking space. The proof can be an allotment letter from the RWA or any authority concerned, whichever is applicable, the guidelines said.

Delhi’s motor licensing officers issue NOCs for vehicles that are either above 15 years old, or above 10 years if it is a diesel variant. The vehicles cannot be used in Delhi, but these NOCs can be used in select states to get the vehicle re-registered there. It is illegal to drive any such vehicle without re-registration in that state.

States where such vehicles are allowed to be sold and re-registered include Rajasthan and Meghalaya (all districts), Bihar (18 districts), Maharashtra (26 districts), Uttar Pradesh (33) and West Bengal (all districts but only BS-IV vehicles).

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An official said issuance of guidelines does not require gazette notification and can be done with the approval of the minister. “It is issued with prior approval of minister of transport of Delhi government,” the guidelines said.

According to the document, the guidelines were required for effective implementation of various directions of National Green Tribunal and for improvement of air quality in Delhi. Further, a large number of junk vehicles can be found abandoned on public place which needs to be disposed of in an environment-friendly manner.

As on March 31, 2023, Delhi has 7.9 million registered motor vehicles; and between 2021 to 2023 (march) 5.49 million vehicles have been deregistered because they had hit end-of-life period, according to transport department data.

Sachin Gupta, founding member of Citizens Action Group, said the vehicle scrapping rules are illogical and the organisation will protest when the drive is launched again. “De-registration rules for 10- to 15-year-old vehicles are not based on any empirical research. Vehicular emissions should be checked, but scrapping the vehicles is wrong. The rules are illogical,” said Gupta, who along with dozens of people protested against impounding of vehicles last year.

An official, who did not want to be named, said the drive against ELVs will not be started immediately. “We have opened a three months window from today (Feb 20) to allow people who want to take NOC from the transport department to move their vehicles out of Delhi-NCR. All vehicles regardless of when they hit the ELV status can apply for NOC. After the window closes, we will run awareness campaigns for at least two weeks and finally in June we plan to launch drive against ELVs,” the official said.

“The guidelines will be submitted before the high court during the next hearing,” said an official.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said: “Stringent monitoring of vehicular emissions is important because vehicles are among the top contributors to Delhi’s air quality. The vehicles which have expired their registration period tend to have dangerous emissions levels. At the same time, 100% compliance with basic PUC norms also requires credible and properly conducted PUC tests.”