Delhi's Bold Move: Enforcing the Refuel Ban on End-of-Life Vehicles

The Delhi government issues Standard Operating Procedures to enforce a ban on refuelling end-of-life vehicles at petrol stations, focusing on vehicles older than 10 years for diesel and 15 years for petrol. The new regulations, effective from July 1, include maintaining logs of denied refuelling and installation of ANPR systems.

The Delhi government has rolled out stringent measures to enforce a ban on refuelling end-of-life vehicles at city petrol stations, officials announced on Tuesday. The move is in alignment with the Commission for Air Quality Management's directive to prohibit the refuelling of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.

Starting July 1, petrol stations must comply with new SOPs, which require them to display signage indicating the ban on such vehicles and to maintain a log of all denied transactions. The Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation will oversee the implementation, employing Automated Number Plate Recognition systems to identify non-compliant vehicles.

To ensure compliance, the transport department instructed petrol stations to train staff on the new regulations, underlining that violations may lead to penalties under Section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. The measures stem from prior court rulings aimed at tackling vehicular pollution in the capital.

(With inputs from agencies.)