Plea in HC seeking exemption for CNG vehicles from odd-even scheme

A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking exemption for CNG vehicles from the odd-even road rationing scheme which came into force in the national capital on Monday and will continue till November 15. BJP leader Nand Kishore Garg had moved the same plea two weeks ago but the high court then declined to entertain it as he had neither made a representation to the Delhi government nor furnished details of the scheme in the petition.

In his petition, Garg claimed that he had subsequently sent a representation to the Delhi government on October 23 and till date no action or decision had been taken on it, forcing him to move the high court. The plea was listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, but was not heard as lawyers had abstained from work protesting injuries caused to some advocates in a clash between them and police officers at Tis Hazari district court on Saturday.

The petition, filed through advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, has sought directions to the Delhi government to exempt CNG vehicles from the odd-even scheme. Garg, a former BJP MLA from the Trinagar constituency of Delhi, has contended in his plea that the scheme was "arbitrary" as polluting vehicles, like two-wheelers, were being exempted while CNG-driven vehicles were not.

He has said that the exempted two-wheelers sold in India are of BS-II norms while four-wheelers comply with BS-IV norms. The Delhi government had on November 1 issued the notification with regard to implementing the scheme from November 4-15 in the national capital.

Twenty-nine categories of vehicles, including those of President, Prime Minister, emergency and enforcement vehicles, cars carrying school children in uniform, have been exempted from the odd-even scheme. Under the scheme, which will be implemented from 8 am to 8 pm till November 15, non-transport four-wheeled vehicles with registration number ending in odd digit (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) will be prohibited on November 4, 6, 8, 12 and 14.

Similarly, vehicles with registration number ending with even digit (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) will be prohibited on November 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15. These restrictions will also apply to the vehicles bearing registration numbers of other states.