Supreme Court To Hear Plea To Allow BS-VI Compliant End-of-Life Vehicles To Ply In Delhi-NCR

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear an application seeking to allow vehicles meeting the BS VI emission standards to operate in the National Capital Region regardless of their end-of-life period (10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol vehicles).

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran agreed to list the matter next Monday, after a counsel mentioned the application for urgent listing.

The counsel said that a direction from the Supreme Court is necessary to allow such vehicles to ply even after the end of their lifeterm, because these periods were set by the Court itself.

In 2015, the National Green Tribunal directed that older vehicles—diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years—should no longer be allowed to ply in Delhi NCR to combat pollution. The NGT direction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Recently, the Delhi Government ordered that end-of-life vehicles will not be supplied fuel at petroleum outlets with effect from July 1, 2025. However, this direction was later put on hold following a public backlash.