National Green Tribunal bans diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 7 April 2015 held that all diesel
vehicles heavy or light which are more than 10 years old will not be
permitted to ply in Delhi and NCR. The judgment was given by bench
headed by NGT Chairman Justice Swatanter Kumar on a petition filed by
Vardhaman Kaushik who had contended that the level of particulates in
Delhi is raising manifold. NGT bench held that Diesel is prime source of
air pollution in Delhi. The current situation is so alarming that
people have been advised to leave Delhi due to adverse effects on
health. Numbers of countries like Brazil, China, and Denmark etc are in
the process or have prohibited diesel vehicles. They have achieved it by
imposing stringent taxes on the vehicles. Certain stringent measures
need to be taken to ensure that residents of Delhi do not travel closer
to ill-health with each breath they take.
In this regard, tribunal bench directed the Transport department of
Delhi government and other concerned authorities to prepare a
comprehensive data of registration of all such vehicles which are 10 or
more years old. Earlier in November 2014, NGT had banned all the petrol
vehicles over 15-year old in Delhi and NCR.
