New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (January 27) modified its earlier 2018 order and said that its earlier order on colour-coded stickers denoting fuel type would also apply to vehicles registered in the National Capital Region (NCR) states before April 1, 2019.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan modified apex court’s August 13, 2018 order while hearing a matter regarding air pollution.
What did the apex court order?
“This order was applicable for all the vehicles in NCR region and implementation was to be made by October 2, 2018 in view of the said order, we modify the August 13, 2018 and direct that as regards vehicles sold before April 1, 2019 the provisions of the said order will apply and in case of vehicles sold on or after April 1, 2019 which are non-compliant with the provisions of the order action under section 192 of the MV Act, 1988 shall be initiated by the governments concerned,” the apex court bench said.
Ensure that vehicles registered before or after April 1, 2019 in NCR states complied with orders: Apex Court
The bench said since it has has modified the order dated August 13, 2018 by directing that in respect of all vehicles registered within NCR states, requirement of the 2018 order shall be complied with, it directed the state governments falling under NCR to ensure that even in respect of vehicles registered within NCR states prior to April 1, 2019, provisions of the order are implemented.
The bench further ordered the state governments concerned in NCR to ensure that vehicles registered before or after April 1, 2019 in NCR states complied with the orders and directed the NCR state governments to not permit transfer of ownership, addition of hypothecation, change of address/hypothecation, duplicate registration, cancellation of hypothecation and permitted fitness related activities without compliance.
No PUC certificates shall be issued to vehicles unless compliance is made: Apex Court
The bench also directed NCR states to issue directions that no Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates shall be issued to such vehicles unless compliance is made with the top court’s said order.
The bench directed the Delhi Government, which informed the court that dealers were authorised by the original manufacturers of vehicles to the work on fixation of the High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) colour coded stickers, to file an affidavit in a month setting out the manner in which they will ensure that every vehicle sold before April 1, 2019 is made compliant with the provisions of the said top court order.
The bench also directed NCR states to consider whether a policy decision can be taken to ensure that a substantial number of vehicles purchased by the governments, the government bodies and other government organisations are electric vehicles and directed the NCR states to take decision in this regard and placed before the court by March 17.
The top court had earlier said that it was considering to make hologram-based stickers mandatory beyond the NCR to tackle air pollution.
