India’s top court slaps ban on new diesel cars in capital

The Supreme Court has banned the registration of new diesel-guzzling luxury cars and sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) with an engine capacity of over 2000cc in the National Capital Region until 31 March, as part of several measures to clean up Delhi’s toxic air quality.

Registration of SUVs and private cars of the capacity of 2000 cc and above using diesel as fuel shall stand banned in the NCR upto 31st March, 2016.

On 9 October, the court levied a green tax or environment compensation charge of Rs. 700 on light commercial vehicles and Rs.1,300 on trucks.

Issuing a slew of measures to check the pollution level in the city, the apex court directed that commercial vehicles registered before 2005 will not be allowed to enter the city and the cabs, including Ola and Uber, will have to convert to CNG.

The Supreme Court also banned the entry into New Delhi of trucks over 10 years old and trucks travelling through the city. The court asked the Delhi government and all civic bodies to stop burning of waste. If this was not enough to curb the automotive fleet of the Capital, National Green Tribunal (NGT) further added to their despair by stopping registrations of vehicles with diesel engines from December 11, 2015, to January 6, 2016.

The move has received the support from environmentalists, who are pushing for the order to be extended beyond Delhi to other cities that are experiencing high levels of air pollution as well.

In a separate ruling this week, the country’s environment court slapped a ban on new registration of all diesel vehicles for almost four weeks in New Delhi, although it was unclear if authorities were carrying out the order.

Analysts say Maruti Suzuki – India’s biggest carmaker – could be a beneficiary of the partial ban on diesel cars in Delhi as most of its fleet comprises of smaller sized engines and petrol cars.

“Delhi has earned a bad name that it is the most polluted city”, he had said. More than 1,400 new cars are added every day to the 8.5 million vehicles on Delhi’s roads.

It had also supported the AAP Government’s recent decision to restrict cars in Delhi based on the odd-even scheme, which had been at the receiving end of a great deal of criticism.