The Delhi government has announced that it will deregister all diesel vehicles that will complete 10 years on January 1, 2022. Owners of said vehicles will be given a No Objection Certificate (NOC) which will allow them to re-register the vehicle in other places. The Delhi government has taken this decision in compliance with the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directions relating to restrictions on registration and plying of 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in the city. While owners of petrol cars that have completed 15 years will get the NOC from the transport department, the same will not be issued for diesel vehicles that have completed 15 years or more on the date of applying for it.
An order issued by the transport department said, “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. Owners of diesel vehicles, which are 10 years old, and petrol vehicles, which are 15 years old, can get the NOC for any place in the country. However, it is subject to the condition that NOC will not be issued for the places which are identified by states as restricted areas for re-registration. To facilitate this, the NGT had directed states to identify areas where the dispersion of air is higher and vehicular density is less.
Interestingly, the transport department has said that owners will also have the option to convert their 10-year-old diesel or 15-year-old petrol vehicles to electric vehicles in case they want to continue using them in Delhi. Of course, this means the vehicles will need to be retrofitted with impaneled electric kits via agencies approved by the department. The empanelment process for electric kits is under process.
For vehicle owners with diesel vehicles that are older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, scrapping is the only option. Transport department and traffic police teams are impounding such vehicles and sending them for scrapping by authorized vendors.