Vehicle owners in Delhi-NCR must ensure coloured petrol, diesel stickers: Supreme Court

The bench, also comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan, further noted that if owners failed to comply, there should be a penalty provision

New Delhi

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by lawyer-activist MC Mehta, seeking remedial steps to reduce pollution in the Capital. (HT Archive)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the onus of implementing colour-coded stickers for petrol and diesel vehicles in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) was on vehicle owners, and gave the Centre and lawyers assisting in the matter time to suggest how this rule—applicable to vehicles registered after April 2019—can be implemented on owners of vehicles registered before April 2019.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by lawyer-activist MC Mehta, seeking remedial steps to reduce pollution in the Capital.

A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka said, “We want the provision of law to say that responsibility of affixing the sticker is on the owner. We are concerned how do we apply this to vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019.”

The bench, also comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan, further noted that if owners failed to comply, there should be a penalty provision.

Posting the matter for further hearing on January 27, the court said, “Some time limit has to be given to say that without this sticker, pollution under control (PUC) certificate will not be issued or it has to be done at the time of renewal of insurance or when the vehicle’s ownership gets transferred.”

Senior advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the court as amicus curiae, informed that in Delhi-NCR, old vehicles were not being provided with these stickers. The bench said, “We will invoke our extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to implement it.”

A note presented by the ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH) on Wednesday showed that in Delhi-NCR, the roll-out of the high security registration plate (HSRP), including the hologram-based colour-coded stickers, has shown an average 95% compliance among vehicles registered after April 2019.

However, the roll-out was barely 30% by vehicles registered before this date.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said that under orders issued by the ministry in December 2018, the coloured stickers were designated as the third registration mark, and the responsibility of affixing it was on vehicle manufacturers.