NGT Reserves Its Judgment On The Ban On 10-Year-Old Diesel Vehicles

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today reserved its judgment for the government's submission on the removal of the ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR. The Delhi Government recently asked the Tribunal to remove the ban on older diesel cars in the capital stating that they were not major contributors to air pollution. The Central Government argued that the NGT can't prove that 10-year-old or more diesel vehicles are the sole reason for causing pollution while other kinds of fuel - like CNG and petrol cause pollution in different capacities.

The Centre also told the Green panel that diesel technology, especially for cars has now improved a lot in the last few years. In fact, in the previous hearing, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand, appearing for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, told the green panel that according to an IIT Kanpur study, vehicular emissions contribute only 20 per cent to the air pollution and out of this contribution of diesel vehicles is 0.22 per cent. Talking about the pollutants released by petrol or a CNG vehicles, the ASG said that petrol emits carbon dioxide, while CNG too causes pollution as it is high on nitrogen oxides.

As a response to this, a bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, said, "You (Centre) say that every kind of fuel causes some or the other kind of pollution. Then by your logic either every type of vehicle should be banned, or everything should be allowed. What is the solution?" The ASG replied that all the arguments were backed by scientific studies and the government was in favour of strict checking of pollution under control (PUC) norms.

We are still waiting details of today's proceedings.