Delhi to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years from Jan 1, 2022

Vehicles that have completed their lifespan must be scrapped or retrofitted to convert them into electric ones

In compliance with the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) directions, the Delhi government will deregister all diesel vehicles older than 10 years on January 1, 2022, and issue no-objection certificates (NOC) for re-registrations at locations other than the national capital.

However, NOCs will not be issued for diesel vehicles older than 15 years on the date of application, according to an order issued earlier this week by the Delhi transport department.

The NGT has issued directions relating to restrictions on registration and operation of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in the Delhi- NCR (National Capital Region). In an order in July 2016, the tribunal said that its direction for deregistration of diesel vehicles older than 10 years must be complied with effectively and without default.

Also Read — Find permanent solution to curb air pollution: Supreme Court to panel

The deregistration of diesel vehicles, which are 15 years old, was to be taken up in the first instance. The transport department order said that "accordingly, the department will deregister all such diesel vehicles in Delhi on January 1, 2022, which have completed or would be completing 10 years on that date".

The department has been deregistering vehicles that have completed their lifespan. NOCs for diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years can be issued for other places in the country, it said.

This will be, however, subject to the condition that NOC will not be issued for the places identified by states as 'restricted' for re-registration, the order said.

The NGT had directed states to identify areas where the dispersion of air is higher and vehicular density is less.

The transport department order said that owners will also have the option to convert their 10-year-old diesel or 15-year-old petrol vehicles to electric ones if they want to continue using them. They will have to retrofit such vehicles with empanelled electric kits through agencies approved by the department. The empanelment process for electric kits is under process.

In all other cases, the only recourse would be to scrap such vehicles. Transport department and traffic police teams are impounding such vehicles and sending them for scrapping by authorised vendors.