Delhi govt directs to ban fuel on overage vehicles from July 1

The Delhi government issued SOPs to enforce the ban on refuelling end-of-life vehicles, mandating petrol pumps to maintain a log of all denied fuel transactions involving such vehicles, officials said on Tuesday.

According to a directive from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), beginning July 1, all end-of-life (EOL) vehicles—which include diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years—will be prohibited from being refuelled in Delhi, regardless of their state of registration.

In the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued on June 17, the transport department specified that fuel stations must display mandatory signage reading: ‘Fuel will not be dispensed to End of Life Vehicles — i.e. 15 years old Petrol/CNG and 10 years old Diesel w.e.f. 01.07.2025’.

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Petrol stations have also been directed to train their staff on the CAQM regulations and the necessary compliance procedures for denying fuel to end-of-life vehicles.

“Maintain a log (manual or digital) of denial transactions to End of Life Vehicles for reporting on weekly basis to Transport Department at the transport.delhi.gov.in,” the SOP stated.

The Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (DTIDC) shall ensure the effective functioning of the Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera systems installed at fuel stations in Delhi, the SOPs said.

“Such system shall ensure the capturing and displaying the registration details of all the vehicles that enter the premises of the fuelling station and EoL vehicles to be readily captured by the system on real time basis,” it further said.

The system shall further ensure the relay of an audio message in respect of such non-compliant vehicles EoL entering the premises of each fuelling station.

The DTIDC has been directed to widely disseminate the Direction of CAQM amongst all stakeholders, including fuel stations, through FM radio, newspapers, and outreach to fuel stations.

Furthermore, the department has been directed to deploy teams at fuel stations, especially with maximum EOL visits on preceding days, to monitor the implementation and take action against the violating Fuel stations as per Section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.

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The department will also have to seek immediate legal action by enforcement teams in respect of identified EoL vehicles, including impounding and further disposal. It has also been directed to submit the list of violating fuel stations to the CAQM and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas every week for further action.

Non-compliance by fuel station operators may lead to penalties under Section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, it said.

A 2018 Supreme Court ruling banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi.

A 2014 National Green Tribunal order also prohibited the parking of vehicles aged over 15 years in public areas.