De-registering Delhi’s old diesel cars is tough
As if last year's Tughlakianfirman from the National Green Tribunal, banishing all diesel cars from Delhi's roads wasn't enough, the country's self-appointed environmental super-cop that treats the national capital as its personal fiefdom, has now gone a step ahead and directed the Delhi Government to de-register diesel vehicles that are above the age-limit. This has been in response to complaints that the 2015 order was not being implemented properly.
Hence, the NGT now wants Delhi's transport department to prepare a list of de-registered vehicles and hand it over to the city traffic police which, in turn, would take punitive action under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. As is typical of the NGT's order, this one too seems to have been poorly thought out. As Delhi's Special Commissioner for Transport notes, there are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles, 1.21 lakh commercial and 1.61 lakh private ones, older than 10 years, which registered with the Government. It is one thing to de-register them on paper, and quite another to start impounding them at traffic signals.
And that's not all — there is also a legal problem here because the Supreme Court has permitted the transport department to issue ‘No Objection’ certificates to diesel vehicles older than 10 years for the purpose of selling the latter in other States outside the capital. The NGT order is in conflict with the apex court order which, of course, has precedence over all judicial orders. Notably, the Supreme Court order was necessitated because the NGT's hardline 2015 order had imposed significant troubles on the average Delhi citizen, who wasn't prepared to junk his car in just 10 years. Apart from having to remove otherwise functional cars from the roads, the 10-year-cap also meant that the re-sale value of these cars in Delhi tanked overnight.
And these are just some of the short term problems that have been created by the NGT. In the medium to long term, the Tribunal's order, which is already causing unnecessary trouble for the common man, will be rendered meaningless. This is because by 2020, Delhi and other Tier I cities will move directly to Bharat Stage VI (skipping Stage V, even while largest parts of the country remains at Stage IV) emission norms. At that level, the whole diesel debate will change because a much superior quality of fuel will have to be used.
The conversation will move towards whether Indian refineries will be able to supply the high quality diesel necessary to meet those norms, whether car-makers will make the necessary upgrades for a developing market like India, and whether India's price-conscious middle class will be able to afford the fuel. In fact, this is a conversation that is relevant even today. For the NGT, diesel is the devil but it is time to ask: Do diesel vehicles pollute because they aren't well maintained or is it because they consume poor-quality diesel or run on polluting technologies or a mix of these factorsIJ