Diesel Cars With 2-litre or Bigger Engines Banned In Delhi

The Supreme Court of India has banned the sale of all diesel cars with 2-litres or bigger engines in Delhi for 3 months!

Delhi nowadays is a hot spot for the automotive industry. It all started with the declaration of Odd-Even Policy of Delhi Government in which odd numbered cars will be allowed on roads on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while even numbered cars will be allowed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.This was a big setback for consumers and automobile industry alike as cars could be driven only on select days of a week. In addition to this, National Green Tribunal (NGT) stopped registrations of vehicles with diesel engines from December 11, 2015, to January 6, 2016. And now, adding to the above, Supreme Court of India has issued an order which puts a ban on the sale of cars with a diesel engine of capacity of 2-litres or more in NCR from January 1, 2016 for three months.

The restriction is only limited to cars but, trucks and LCVs entering Delhi need to be less than 10 years old i.e. they should have been registered after 2006. Also, Trucks moving into the Capital will now have to pay Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) which is Rs 2600 for trucks and Rs 1400 for LCV. There will also be a ban on the entry of trucks which use the capital as a transit route. The news also extends for taxi services including Ola and Uber as now, they will have to convert to CNG.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave while appearing on behalf of automobile manufacturers said, "No city in the world has banned it. Even Beijing, which has implemented the odd-even car use formula, has not banned sale of diesel cars. It will have a cascading effect. Millions of dollars of investments have been made for manufacturing diesel cars. Thousands of workers have been engaged in these plants."  To this argument, Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A. K. Sikri and R. Banumathi said, "Let us stop it for three months. The worst polluted city in the world should take drastic measures." they added, "Let us have accurate and authentic figures about pollution caused by diesel cars."

Also Read: Mahindra Crippled in Delhi as Diesel Ban Piles up Cars worth Rs. 1,000 Crore