New Delhi: Following the government announcing the contours of the voluntary vehicle scrapping policy Thursday, the road transport ministry is now considering whether it needs to appeal against a 2018 Supreme Court order that is at odds with the policy.
Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari Thursday said his ministry will seek legal opinion on whether an appeal needs to be made against the top court order to impound 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles found plying on roads in the National Capital Region.
The order is in variance with the road ministry’s vehicle scrapping policy, which caps the life of government and commercial vehicles at 15 years, and private vehicles at 20 years. The apex court’s order bans diesel and petrol vehicles that are over 15 years old.
“We will take a legal opinion on whether it can be allowed … because the Motor Vehicle Act, which is the basis of the vehicle scrapping policy, says private vehicles can be on the road for 20 years,” Gadkari said at a press conference.
The minister added, “My understanding is that the Parliament has passed the Motor Vehicle law … Parliament is supreme. We have made the policy under the Motor Vehicle law … Parliament has the right to make law but the Supreme Court has the right to interpret it.”
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What Supreme Court said in 2018
In October 2018, when the Supreme Court gave the order to impound 15-year-old diesel and 10-year-old petrol vehicles on Delhi-NCR roads, it had described the prevailing pollution situation in the region as “very critical”.
The court has asked the Delhi government’s transport department to identify and impound such vehicles, which it deemed contributed to the pollution problem. The court had said that a list of such vehicles should also be put on the website of the Central Pollution Control Board and the transport department.
In 2017, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also banned 15-year-old diesel and 10-year-old petrol vehicles from Delhi-NCR roads. Back then, the road ministry had decided to become a party in the case with the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), which had in January 2017 appealed the Supreme Court against the NGT order.
The DHI had made the appeal on the basis of its age and had said that it results in loss of vehicles especially in case of personally-owned vehicles which have been maintained well.
What govt’s policy entails
On Thursday, the government announced that from 1 June 2024, private vehicles, which are over 20 years old, will be mandatorily de-registered if they fail the fitness test or their registration certificate is not renewed. For heavy commercial vehicles, which are over 15 years old and fail fitness tests, the deadline for deregistration is 1 April 2023.
Private vehicles, which renew their fitness certificate after 20 years will have to pay an increased fee of Rs 7,000 and another Rs 5,000 for renewing the registration.
Gadkari said that the government will be giving a slew of monetary incentives to owners of old vehicles for getting it scrapped through registered scrapping centres.
Also, automobile manufacturers will give a 5 per cent discount to those who buy new vehicles after getting their old vehicle scrapped.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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