Delhi government to deregister all diesel vehicles completing 10 years on January 1, 2022

Delhi Government has decided to de-register all diesel vehicles which will be completing ten years on January 1, 2022. .An order to that effect was recently issued by the Joint Director, Transport Department, Government of NCT Delhi. The order said that the decision was being taken in compliance of the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in July 2016 in Vardhman Kaushik v Union of India.The NGT had issued directions pertaining to restrictions on registration and plying of diesel vehicles more than 10 years old and petrol vehicles more than 15 years.The NGT had further said that de-registration of diesel vehicles running for more than 15 years was to be taken up immediately and the directions shall be complied with effectively and without fault. The Transport Department had previously de-registered a number of vehicles but in the meantime more vehicles have crossed the 10 year mark. "Accordingly , the Transport Department will deregister all such diesel vehicles in Delhi on January 1, 2022. These will include vehicles which have already completed 10 years or will be completing 10 years on January 1," the order said..The department, however, added that the owners will have the option to convert their 10 year old diesel and 15 year old petrol vehicles to electric, in case they wish to use them in the capital.“The retro fitment of such vehicles with impaneled electric kits will have got to be done through agencies approved by the Transport Department. The empanelment process for electric kits is under process ," the order. In all other cases, the only recourse would be to scrap vehicles which are more than 10 years old (diesel) and 15 years old (petrol)..The following are the criteria that will be followed for issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOC) for vehicles:No NOC for diesel vehicles that have completed over 15 years on date of applying for NOCNOC for upto 10 and 15 year old diesel and petrol vehicles respectively can be issued for any place in the countryNOC for diesel and petrol vehicles above 10 and 15 years old respectively will be issued in other states as long as they are not places identified by the states as restricted areas in terms of the NGT Order, which had directed states to identify areas where the dispersion of air is higher and vehicular density is least..[Read order]