The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging the Delhi government’s policy to scrap diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 years and 15 years, respectively.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih, however, allowed the applicant to file a representation before the appropriate authority of the Delhi government and pursue a proper legal course in the matter.
The Apex Court further granted liberty to the applicant that in case the authority passed an adverse order, she was free to challenge the same, in accordance with the law and statute.
Applicant Nagalakshmi Laxmi Narayanan had moved the Supreme Court in September this year, challenging the guidelines issued for ‘handling the end-of-life vehicles in public places of Delhi’.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) had issued the guidelines on February 20, 2024, in compliance with the 2015 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which mandated the scrapping of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.
The petition was filed as an impleadment application in the MC Mehta case.
The petition argued that these rules, based on earlier orders from the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court (in MC Mehta Vs. Union of India case), were being applied without due consideration of the vehicles’ actual emissions or condition, causing undue hardship to vehicle owners.
The petitioner contended that she bought her diesel car in 2014 before the NGT order was issued. She paid the full price of the vehicle, inclusive of road tax and registration fees, which guaranteed the vehicle’s operational life for 15 years. The registration certificate was valid till 2029, and the petitioner expected to be able to use the vehicle until that date.
The petitioner said the sudden enforcement of NGT’s scrappage guidelines violated the terms under which the vehicle was purchased. If a vehicle has been purchased lawfully, with all taxes and fees paid for its full lifespan, why should the owner be deprived of the right to use it for the entire 15-year period, she asked.
The petition submitted that the vehicle in question still had several more years of operational life, as it was only 10 years old and fully capable of being used until 2029, according to its registration.
However, the NGT’s order suddenly imposed a rule that condemned vehicles older than 10 years, requiring them to be scrapped. This effectively cut short the remaining one-third of the vehicle’s lifespan, despite it being roadworthy and compliant with the required emission norms, said the application.
The petitioner contended that if her vehicle continued to meet the pollution norms that applied to vehicles less than 10 years old, why should it be scrapped. She said the guidelines did not distinguish between the vehicles that were environmentally compliant and those that were not.
The blanket approach to banning vehicles based on age, without considering their condition or emissions, would cause losses to consumers and create unnecessary national waste.
By forcing the scrappage of well-maintained and compliant vehicles, the policy resulted in the destruction of assets that still had years of usability left. This not only caused direct financial harm to the vehicle owners, but also contributed to a larger problem of resource waste at a national level, it contended.
The petition further said the scrappage policy should be made prospective, instead of being retrospective.
If the government was permitting the sale of a vehicle with a 15-year registration period, how could it retrospectively impose a ban before the end of that period, asked the plea.
The sudden imposition of a 10-year limit, without considering the purchase date or the condition of the vehicle, created uncertainty and financial hardship for vehicle owners, said the petition drawn by Advocate Abhinav Verma and filed by AOR Charu Mathur..