Govt proposes three-year PUCC validity for BS-VI vehicles

The Union government on Monday, July 27, proposed extending the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for BS-VI-compliant private vehicles up to six years old to three years from the current one year, aiming to reduce the compliance burden on vehicle owners.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, stated that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC every year, while vehicles older than 10 years will need to renew the certificate every six months.

According to the draft notification, all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will continue to renew their PUCC every six months. Vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will be required to renew their PUCC every three months.

BS, or Bharat Stage, refers to India's vehicle emission standards, which set limits on pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matter (PM).

These standards are aligned with European emission norms and are designed to progressively reduce vehicular pollution by phasing out vehicles with higher emissions.

BS-IV emission norms were implemented between 2017 and 2020, while BS-VI standards have been in force since April 2020.

India skipped the BS-V emission stage and directly adopted BS-VI standards to accelerate pollution control efforts. BS-VI-compliant vehicles emit significantly lower levels of pollutants and operate using low-sulphur BS-VI fuel.

(With PTI Inputs)