The Supreme Court ruled the plying of 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in the national capital region (NCR) and has also directed the transport department to announce that such vehicles if found plying would be impounded. The order has come due to increasing pollution levels and 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 would be published on the website of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and transport department.
A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer, Madan B Lokur, and Deepak Gupta also said to publish an advertisement on this in the newspapers. The bench also directed the Central Pollution Control Board department to immediately create an account on social media platforms on which citizens could lodge their complaints directly about pollution on which appropriate action could be taken by the concerned authorities. Environment Pollution Control Authority has been permitted to take pre-emptive measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) without strict adherence to pollution stages delineated in the plan. GRAP is aimed at tackling air pollution in Delhi-NCR and other adjoining regions to take urgent remedial steps when air quality deteriorates.
