If you have bought your car or two-wheeler after March 31, 2010, you will not have to queue up to get the emission level check of your vehicle every three months. While making emission norms stringent for all vehicles manufactured to conform to Bharat Stage 4 (BS4)  -- and registered on or after April 1, 2010 -- the ministry of road transport and highways has increased the validity of pollution under control certificate to 12 months.

Vehicles registered before April 1, 2010, however, will continue to get emission level checked and obtain pollution under control (PUC) certificates every three months.

The new rule is likely to benefit almost 14 lakh vehicle owners who bought their vehicles between April 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012. The new arrangement will come into effect from February 23.

According to the ministry officials, a gazette notification was issued on February 23, 2012. The ministry, however, had given one year to all states to upgrade the equipment at pollution checking centres.

Delhi’s transport department officials said in the first year of the purchase of the vehicle, the owner does not have to get a PUC certificate. However, after the first year, obtaining a PUC certificate every three months was mandatory in Delhi. The validity of the PUC certificate in other states was six months.

Officials said the pollution control centres have been told to follow the new rules. “With the government likely to link the PUC certificate with annual vehicle insurance cover, there is likely to be more people abiding by the law,” a senior transport department official said.