Ban on diesel vehicles in Delhi to continue: SC

New Delhi, April 30

The Supreme Court on Saturday said ban on registration of diesel vehicles above 2000 cc in the National Capital Region (NCR) would continue until the case’s next hearing on May 9.

The court refused to give more time to taxi operators in the National Capital Region (NCR) to switch from diesel to the cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG).

The deadline for the change, which has been extended twice, is Saturday.

A number of cab operators and their associations urged the court for an extension of the deadline, but a bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justice AK Sikri and Justice R Banumati refused the request.

However, the court exempted Delhi Police and Delhi Jal Board from the ban for transportation of undertrial prisoners, arms and ammunition and supply of water. The Bench told the Delhi Police to pay 30 per cent of the real value of the vehicle to be purchased by it as Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) or green cess as a pre-condition for their registration with the transport department.

Taxis with all-India permits will also be exempt from the ban.

Senior advocate Shyam Diwan, appearing for some taxi owners made a strong plea for modification of the order with regard to conversion of diesel-run taxis into CNG and said there is no technology at all for it.

"We will not be able to earn our livelihood. Moreover, we have to pay the bank also," Diwan said.

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for some Municipal bodies of Delhi, sought an order from the apex court that the diesel vehicles to be used by them for solid waste management, be allowed to be registered with the transport authority.

The bench, however, asked the municipal bodies to approach the National Green Tribunal with the plea.

The petitions before the bench also include the pleas of automobile giants like Mercedes, Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors seeking modification of the order by which registration of their high-end diesel vehicles, with an engine capacity of 2000 CC and above, had been barred in Delhi and NCR.

The Supreme Court had declined the Central Government's request to defer Saturday's scheduled full-fledged hearing on pollution issues, including the plea of automobile giants.

The apex court had on March 31 asked the stake holders to sit together and come out with "propositions" so that some solutions could be arrived at by holding a full-fledged hearing on Saturdays, a non-working day for the apex court, to save "judicial time".

While extending the deadline in the last hearing for converting diesel-run taxis into CNG and continuing with the status-quo on registration of high-end diesel vehicles, the bench had asked the big car makers not to treat the PIL as an "adversarial litigation" and "treat it in public interest".

The apex court had initially asked the diesel cab operators in the NCR to switch over to CNG by March 1. That deadline was later extended to March 31 and then to April 30.

"We are not going to extend any further the deadline," the Bench said on Saturday.

The matter related to steps to be taken to curb alarming increase in air pollution in the national capital. — Agencies