Great News! 15-Year-Old Cars Can Stay On The Roads!

Car owners need not worry as the Centre appears to have dropped a proposal to scrap 15-year-old private vehicles in Delhi as a measure to contain the rising pollution in the capital. 

"At present, the ministry does not propose to mandate age limit of private vehicles because this is a short-cut approach," the ministry of road transport and highways informed the Supreme Court. But the 15-year-old age limit may come into force for commercial and transport vehicles, it said.

It informed the court that the government would make fitness test for all vehicles more stringent and periodic. "Fitness testing will prove whether the vehicle has reached its end of life," it said.

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The ministry proposed reduction of fitness testing period from 15 years to 5 for every new vehicle purchased. After a vehicle gets 15 years old, its fitness needs to be tested every 2-3 years, it said. 

"But this will require bringing more authorized test stations as provided in section 56 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Such stations are brought in the regulated private sector in developed countries," the ministry said. 

To improve the national Air Quality Index (AQI), the ministry of petroleum and natural gas informed the Supreme Court that it would be able to supply cleaner BS-IV compliant motor fuel to the entire country by April 1, 2017. 

The ministry said by April 1 this year, it would be able to supply BS-IV compliant petrol and diesel to whole of northern India covering Jammu and Kashmir (except Leh and Kargil), Punjab, Haryana, HP, Uttarakhand, Delhi and the bordering districts as well as parts of Rajasthan and western UP. 

By April 1 next year, the cleaner fuel would be available in Mumbai, parts of Maharashtra (Thane and Pune), parts of Gujarat (Surat, Valsad, Dangs and Tapi districts) and the whole of Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Telengana, Odisha, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. 

By April 1, 2017, the rest of the country would be supplied with cleaner fuel, the ministry assured the court. "It may not be feasible to advance this schedule due to logistic constraints like availability of refineries to produce sufficient quantity of BS-IV fuel, transportation and storage involving in conversion of BS-III to BS-IV," it said. 

"The ministry in consultation with oil marketing companies is also considering a proposal to switch over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI by April 1, 2020 in the entire country instead of step-wise upgradation from BS-IV to BS-V and then to BS-VI in the year 2024," it said.