ELV to EV: What clean mobility policy must do

Phasing out end-of-life vehicles reduces the stock of heavy polluters but does not necessarily accelerate the shift to zero-emission mobility

- Amit Bhatt is India managing director, and Anirudh Narla is a researcher, ICCT.

In a significant development for air quality governance, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has amended its earlier directive to now mandate that fuel stations in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density National Capital Region (NCR) districts — Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat — must deny fuel to petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years starting November 1, 2025. This enforcement will extend to the rest of the NCR from April 1, 2026.

The move has sparked public debate, with some contending that a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate should be adequate. Yet, CAQM's action reflects an attempt to take a more decisive, data-driven approach to tackling Delhi's persistent air pollution challenges.

What critics are overlooking in this debate is that CAQM's directive is not a new rule, but an enforcement of longstanding judicial orders. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) already mandated these age-based limits on petrol sales in 2014-15, and the Supreme Court reaffirmed them in its 2018 ruling in the MC Mehta case. While the identification and impounding of aged vehicles is a routine annual exercise during the high-pollution winter months, the CAQM directive extends this effort year-round and brings fuel stations into the enforcement framework in a staggered manner, starting with Delhi and adjoining districts and eventually covering the larger NCR.

To help evaluate the intent and effectiveness of the directive, it is useful to revisit how vehicle emission norms have progressed in India and why older vehicles remain a concern.