Ban on overage vehicles from refuelling: officials crack whip

Forty-five vehicles were impounded and the owners of 80 others were served notices on Tuesday as the ban on overage or ‘end of life’ vehicles from refuelling in Delhi came into effect on Tuesday.

Across the Capital, fuel stations equipped with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and loudspeakers denied fuel to overage vehicles while officials from the Transport Department and Delhi Traffic Police took action against the violators.

The National Green Tribunal had in 2015 banned overage vehicles, defined as petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years, in the NCR.

To implement this prohibition, the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had in April ordered that overage vehicles, including those from other States, would not be allowed to refuel in Delhi from July 1.

It had directed the ban to come into effect in five NCR districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat from November 1 and across the NCR from April 1, 2026.

While a few issues related to the technology were reported from a few fuel stations, the prohibition was implemented across the city without major hiccups.

Manual verification

At a fuel station near Sarvapriya Vihar, two officers manually verified the number plates using a handheld scanner.

At Ashram Chowk, an employee at a fuel pump said, “We refused to refuel a luxury car from 2010. Subsequently, it was impounded by officials.”

In Hazrat Nizamuddin, a fuel station wrongly flagged an autorickshaw as overage. “The ANPR system misread the plate. But after the driver showed documents proving recent purchase, we let him refuel,” said an employee.

A fuelling station in Sarai Kale Khan did not have ANPR cameras or speakers, nor were officials present at the spot.

At another station near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, an overage Chandigarh-registered car was denied fuel, but let go as no official was present to impound it.

‘Enforce it across NCR’

“Some people are avoiding refuelling in Delhi out of the fear of being penalised. The ban must be extended across NCR. Otherwise, Delhi dealers will suffer,” said Nischal Singhania, the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association president.