Delhi govt lifts one-year limit on NOC applications for overage vehicles

In a decision aimed at providing relief to lakhs of owners of overage vehicles, the Delhi government on Thursday lifted the one-year limit on NOC applications for deregistered vehicles.

This move will primarily benefit owners of diesel vehicles aged over 10 years and petrol vehicles over 15 years old, allowing them to obtain an NOC to re-register their vehicles in other states outside the Delhi-NCR region, irrespective of how long ago their vehicle’s registration expired, an official statement said.

The Delhi government has decided to keep in abeyance the restrictive clause from the “Guidelines for Handling End of Life Vehicles in Public Places of Delhi, 2024” which limited the application for NOC to only within one year of a vehicle’s registration expiry, said an official statement.

“We found that the one-year deadline for NOC was creating an unintended logjam, leaving lakhs of vehicles stranded in Delhi. These vehicles were neither being scrapped nor could they be moved out, leading to potential pollution and congestion.

“By relaxing this criteria, we are empowering our citizens to make a responsible choice. This decision will systematically phase out a significant number of older vehicles from Delhi’s roads, giving a direct boost to our efforts in improving air quality and decongesting our city,” said Delhi Transport minister Pankaj Singh.

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The step has been proposed in light of numerous public representations and internal reviews. It ensures that vehicles deregistered due to age can be legally transferred to regions where they are permitted to ply, effectively removing them from the national capital’s ecosystem.

A 2018 Supreme Court ruling had banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi. A 2014 National Green Tribunal order also prohibits the use of vehicles over 15 years in public spaces.