Beware while driving your vehicle without a valid pollution under control certificate (PUCC), the Delhi Government has issued a notification stating to penalize vehicle owners including disqualification of their driving licence for three months if found without PUCC, in a move to control pollution in the national capital.

In a public notice, the Transport department said it will issue challans to those vehicles whose PUCC has expired. The challan will be issued under section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which states that failure to possess PUCC may lead to imprisonment up to three months or fine up to Rs 10000 or both.

 "They will also be disqualified to hold their licence for three months," it read. The notice said that all those registered vehicle owners whose vehicles are more than a year old from the date of registration should get their vehicles checked and obtain a valid PUCC to avoid a fine.

The Government is also looking to set up automated systems, such as RFID (used in FASTags), to check PUCs to avoid long queues at pumps and minimise the scope for fake documents.

Air pollution levels in Delhi touch hazardous levels every winter, and while they are driven initially by fumes from stubble fires in neighbouring states, vehicles are among the key sources of pollution at a local level.

An analysis released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in November last year found that vehicles were the biggest contributor to local sources of particulate pollution in Delhi, with their real-time share touching more than 50% during the early phase of winter, between October 24 and November 8, 2021.