The National Green Tribunal has modified its order to deregister all diesel vehicles which are over 10 years old in Delhi. In its latest hearing today, the tribunal directed the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Delhi to deregister and scrap all diesel vehicles older than 15 years and are compliant with BS-I, BS-II norms, first.

"We make it clear that deregistration of diesel vehicles shall be complied with effectively without any default. However, registration authorities are directed to start the process with reference to oldest vehicles first, that is, diesel vehicles which are 15 years old should be deregistered first," reports quoted a bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar as saying.

Besides, the NGT also directed the RTO to not issue an NOC to such diesel vehicles and asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to provide land for parking of such diesel vehicles, according to reports.

Today’s ruling would provide some relief to car owners affected by the earlier ban on vehicles over a decade old as a cause for dissent following yesterday’s order was that owners of the affected cars had paid road tax for 15 years.

However, the absence of a proper scrappage policy for disposing of older vehicles met with protest from automakers and the general public.

It was even met with opposition from the Central government, who said the move would render the country’s manufacturing policy regime unpredictable and inconsistent. Reports suggested that the earlier ruling would have resulted in 4,00,000 diesel passenger vehicles and thousands of commercial vehicles over 10 years going off Delhi roads.