The Supreme Court yesterday declined to extend the October 2 deadline for phasing out old commercial vehicles in Delhi and asked the state government to state on Tuesday what it was intending to do to implement the earlier order.
The court had asked the government to scrap vehicles which were over 15 years old by October 2. Solicitor-general Santosh Hegde submitted that the government was willing to condemn commercial vehicles over 12 years old if the deadline was extended till March 31 next year.
Hegde told a bench headed by Justice A S Anand hearing a public interest petition that around 20,000 commercial vehicles, including 8,574 auto-rickshaws, 1,652 taxis, 5,947 goods carriers and 1,840 buses had to be phased out according to the government plan.
Senior counsel Harish Salve, appointed to assist the court in this case, stated that the government had done little in this matter though its White Paper had recommended scrapping of old vehicles by April 1 this year. The government was asking the court to pass orders to implement its own decisions. The government pleaded for more time and pointed out that the public distribution system would be seriously affected if the court order was to be implemented from next month.
Transporters and taxi owners have filed petitions seeking permission to change the engines of their vehicles instead of scrapping them altogether. The Gas Authority of India Ltd has also joined the fray.
