Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises on Friday asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to consider lifting ban on diesel vehicles over 10 years old in the National Capital Region (NCR). Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand told the court that instead of banning these vehicles, it should look at bigger causes of pollution such as crop burning and road dust.
NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar refused to pass any new order and said the plea will be heard on Tuesday.
On the issue of other polluting causes to be considered, the court asked Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to submit a report addressing the issue and the environment secretary of each State to be present at the next date of hearing. On 18 July, the tribunal had directed the Delhi Government's Transport Department to deregister diesel vehicles that are more than 10 years old. It had later held that the process of deregistration would begin with scrapping 15-year-old diesel vehicles.
The order had come after complaints of non-implementation of NGT's order of April 2015, wherein it had banned diesel vehicles that were over 10 years old from plying on the roads of Delhi and NCR.
Over the past 18 months, NGT and the Supreme Court have passed a series of orders seeking to control air pollution in NCR centered around Delhi. For instance, the Supreme Court in December 2015 banned registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity more than 2,000cc and made it mandatory for all diesel taxis plying in the Capital to convert to CNG.
As of 2014, Delhi had 8.9 million registered passenger vehicles. Of these, there are around 220,000 diesel passenger vehicles and 170,000 commercial vehicles that are over 10 years old, according to industry estimates.