NEW DELHI, June 21 – From July 1, all end-of-life (EOL) vehicles — diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles over 15 years — will be denied fuel in Delhi, regardless of where they are registered, as part of a sweeping crackdown on vehicular pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) announced on Friday.
The ban follows a directive issued in April to fuel stations across Delhi, warning them to stop supplying fuel to non-compliant vehicles. As of now, 500 out of 520 fuel stations have installed Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to enforce the move, with the remaining expected to be ready by June 30.
“These directions are not limited to vehicles registered in Delhi,” said CAQM Technical Member Virinder Sharma. “End-of-life vehicles from outside the city that enter Delhi also contribute to pollution, and this loophole has to be closed. We know people are registering vehicles outside Delhi to bypass the rules — that must be deterred.”
ANPR cameras will be linked with the central VAHAN database and will flag diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years. Once flagged, alerts will be sent to a command centre and enforcement teams — comprising transport and traffic officials — who will move to impound and scrap the vehicles under the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) Rules.
According to CAQM, Delhi has around 62 lakh EOL vehicles, including 41 lakh two-wheelers, while the total number of such vehicles across the NCR stands at nearly 1.06 crore. The highest concentrations are in Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Sonipat.
Fuel denial for EOL vehicles will expand to these five high-density districts starting November 1, with full ANPR coverage by October 31. Remaining NCR districts have until March 31, 2026, with the ban taking effect April 1, 2026.
The new enforcement framework includes 100 dedicated teams across Delhi. “Strict legal action will be taken against fuel stations violating the order,” Sharma said, adding that traffic surveillance systems and Integrated Command Control Centres will also aid detection on roads.
While EOL buses registered across India will also be detected, Sharma said separate restrictions on their movement into Delhi-NCR are being drafted.
Vehicles without valid pollution certificates will also be denied fuel, reinforcing long-standing Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal orders that have seen little compliance until now.
Authorities clarified that vehicle owners may seek a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to transfer their overage vehicles to regions outside Delhi-NCR where such restrictions are not in place.
“This is a policy of necessity,” Sharma said. “The era of polluting vehicles being tolerated in the capital is over.”
