Supreme Court revives ban in NCR on 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles below BS-IV

The Supreme Court on Wednesday modified its August 12 order by which it had directed that no coercive action be taken against owners of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi today made it clear that vehicles with Bharat Stage-III (BS-III) or lower emission standards will once again be subject to enforcement action, including impounding.

The protection afforded by August 12 order will now apply only to vehicles meeting BS-IV or higher emission norms.

Thus, diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years and which do not meet BS-IV standards will be subject to action.

"Para 2 of August 12, 2025 order is modified to the extent that no coercive steps shall be taken for BS-IV vehicles and above," the Court ordered.

This was after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati submitted that Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has filed an application seeking modification of the August 12 order.

CAQM submitted that blanket protection had made it difficult for State authorities to act against higher-polluting vehicles.

CAQM in its affidavit had stated that around 93 per cent of the 2.88 crore vehicles on the road in Delhi-NCR are light motor vehicles which are cars and two-wheelers and amongst them about 37% run on BS 3 or even older engines. They emit between 2.5 and 31 times more particulate matter compared to recent models complaint with BS IV and above, it was pointed out.