In a bid to ensure that Delhi breathes clean, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that henceforth no vehicle will get an insurance policy without a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate. The court further directed the Centre to ensure there is a pollution checking centre at each petrol pump.
The order has come on a recommendation of the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), the expert body assisting the apex court on environmental issues. The EPCA informed the court that a survey of the existing 962 pollution checking centres revealed that the standards prescribed for testing pollution levels were not uniformly followed at these centres.
The Bench of Justices Madan lokur and Deepak Gupta also asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to ensure that in four weeks all fuel refilling centres in the National Capital Region (NCR) have a PUC centre to facilitate issuance of the certificates.
The court was hearing a PIl filed by advocate MC Mehta, against the menace of pollution plaguing Delhi-NCR.
The Union Government too admitted that there was a problem with these centres and informed the court that between July and November last year, show-cause notices were issued to 174 PUC centres for irregularities and licences of 14 were cancelled. In 75 cases, the Government suspended licences while 78 such centres were let off with a warning.
Noting these abnormalities, the EPCA conducted a detailed study on the way forward and proposed a road map to the court. According to the EPCA, random checking of vehicles for PUC certificates would not help achieve full compliance to curb pollution.
Senior advocate Harish Salve who represented EPCA and assisted the court as amicus said it is time to link insurance policy of vehicles with PUC certificate. He said the same condition should also apply for renewal of insurance policies.
Incidentally, vehicles cannot ply on the roads without insurance certificates as it involves harsh penalties under the amended Motor Vehicles Act with penalty up to Rs 2,000. However, he added that the current regime only provides for a fine of Rs 1,000 for driving without a PUC certificate.
He asserted that the insurance companies need to be directed to insist on a valid PUC certificate before renewing insurance certificates and validate the same from the road transport authority (RTO) concerned. For this purpose, the court even directed the Centre to prepare a national database of vehicles to ensure such information is easily accessible.