Amid deteriorating air quality of the national capital, the Supreme Court on Monday imposed a complete ban on the usage of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the national capital region.
Terming as "very critical" the prevailing situation of pollution in Delhi-NCR region, the apex court directed that a list of 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles be published on the web site of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and transport department.
The Supreme Court directed the transport authority to announce that such vehicles would be impounded if found plying and the advertisments about the same should be published in the newspapers.
Further adding to the guidelines, the bench directed the CPCB to immediately create a social media account on which citizens could lodge their complaints directly about pollution on which appropriate action could be taken by the authorities concerned.
It permitted the court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to take pre-emptive steps under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) without strict adherence to pollution stages delineated in the plan.
In 2017, National Green Tribunal had issued a ban on 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi which was turned down the Supreme Court.
CPCB on Sunday issued a report on Sunday that Delhi recorded season's worst air quality, falling under the category 'very poor' and just a few points below dropping to 'severe'.
Central and Delhi governments are taking interim measures to save the air quality from worsening further.
(With inputs from PTI)
