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

NEW DELHI: In a significant decision aimed at providing relief to lakhs of vehicle owners and furthering the cause of reducing vehicular pollution in the capital, the Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government has announced the relaxation of norms for issuing No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for deregistered vehicles.

In a big relief to the vehicle owners, Delhi 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.

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.

Speaking on the development, Transport Minister of Delhi, Pankaj Kumar Singh, said, “Our dual focus has always been on citizen welfare and environmental protection. 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”, he added.

This step, proposed in light of numerous public representations and internal reviews, aligns with the department’s earlier orders of 2021 and 2022, which were themselves formulated in compliance with the directions of the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT). 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. (ANI)