Penalty Imposed on Owners of End-of-Life Vehicles in Delhi/Noida for Violations
Owners of end-of-life vehicles detected at fuel stations or public places in Delhi/Noida will face penalties starting July 1, officials announced. The penalties are part of efforts to curb pollution and promote cleaner air.
In an effort to tackle pollution and promote cleaner air, owners of end-of-life vehicles (EOL) found at fuel stations or parked at public places in Delhi/Noida will face penalties starting July 1. EOL vehicles, which are diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, will be impounded and owners fined ₹10,000 for four-wheelers and ₹5,000 for two-wheelers.
Under the new directive issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management, irrespective of the states they are registered in, EOL vehicles will not be refueled in Delhi starting July 1. Around 500 fuel stations in Delhi have installed automated number plate recognition cameras to detect EOL vehicles.
When a vehicle enters a fuel station, a special camera will read its number plate. The number will be checked with the central Vahan database, which will display details like the vehicle's age, fuel type, and registration. If the vehicle is identified as EOL, it will be flagged, and the fuel station staff will be alerted not to refuel it. Violations will be recorded and sent to enforcement agencies for further action, such as impounding and scrapping the vehicle.
Delhi Transport Commissioner Niharika Rai stated that any EOL vehicle detected at fuel stations will be impounded on the spot. Penalties have been set for owners of impounded vehicles, with four-wheelers fined ₹10,000 and two-wheelers fined ₹5,000, along with towing and parking charges.
In addition to fines, owners must submit an undertaking stating that the vehicles will not be used or parked at any public place and will be removed from Delhi's jurisdiction. Enforcement agencies will conduct regular drives to remove EOL vehicles from public places in Delhi and submit daily reports to the environment department for further action.
If an EOL vehicle is found on the road or parked in a public area, it will be seized, and a seizure memo will be issued. All impounded vehicles will be sent to a registered vehicle scrapping facility. To move the vehicle out of Delhi, the owner must obtain a no-objection certificate within a year of the vehicle's expiry date.
The mechanism will be implemented in five high-vehicle-density districts adjacent to Delhi - Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat from November 1, with ANPR camera installation to be completed by October 31. The remaining NCR districts have until March 31, 2026, to install cameras, with fuel denial for EOL vehicles starting April 1, 2026.
The Commission for Air Quality Management will soon issue an order to implement the mechanism at Delhi's 156 entry points for EOL vehicles as well as for buses and other heavy goods vehicles. Strict action will be taken against fuel stations violating the directions under relevant legal provisions.
According to the CAQM, there are 62 lakh EOL vehicles in Delhi, with 41 lakh being two-wheelers. The total number of EOL vehicles in other NCR districts is around 44 lakh, mostly concentrated in the five high-density cities.
These directives come amid slow progress in removing old, polluting vehicles from the NCR despite previous orders from the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. Assistant Regional Transport Officer Gautam Budh Nagar, Udit Narayan Pandey, highlighted that the CAQM's order aims to promote pollution control and clean air by restricting fuel access to older vehicles in Gautam Budh Nagar.