New Delhi: A high-end car owner Wednesday complained to Supreme Court that the authorities were refusing to issue a PUC certificate for his 10-year-old diesel vehicle despite the court’s Dec-17 order barring coercive action against 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles solely on the basis of their age.Senior advocate Rakesh Khanna told a bench led by CJI Surya Kant that high-end vehicles, like the Volvo XC-60 car of the applicant, have a long life and the scrapping of these vehicles would entail a huge cost for the owners.Khanna said his client was told that “the software systems at PUCC centres and operating instructions thereof do not permit issuance of a PUC certificate to a vehicle that crosses the given age threshold, even if the vehicle passes the emission test.”Because of denial of a PUC certificate, he is unable to purchase fuel for his car, rendering it immobile. The bench agreed to list the plea for hearing.On July 25 last year, Delhi govt had requested SC to direct Union govt or Commission for Air Quality Management to “carry out a suitable broad-based, scientific study on the need for continuance of a complete ban on the plying of 15 or more years old petrol and 10 or more years old diesel vehicles of all categories in NCR, imposed by SC through its order on Oct 10, 2018”.On Aug 12, SC had directed that “no coercive steps be taken against the owners of vehicles on the ground that they are 10 years old (in case of diesel engine) and 15 years old (in case of petrol engine)”.On Dec 17, SC modified its earlier order restraining Delhi and National Capital Region authorities from taking coercive action against end-of-life vehicles and said the reprieve would be applicable only to BS-IV or BS-VI emission norm-compliant vehicles.The Dec-17 order meant the scrapping of 14,71,794 BS-I compliant cars, three-wheelers, two-wheelers, buses and goods carriers, 38,75,859 BS-II compliant vehicles and another 53,71,836 BS-III vehicles.There are 57,36,956 BS-IV compliant and 72,89,917 BS-VI compliant vehicles in Delhi-NCR.
