Is This the NGT or Nero at Work? NCR Woes for Diesel Car Owners!

Is This the NGT or Nero At Work? NCR Woes For Diesel Car Owners!

The act of parliament, that set up the National Green Tribunal (NGT),  in 2010, probably did not anticipate the total lack of comprehensiveness  in its approach so far.

Invested with going into ‘substantial questions relating to the environment,’ the NGT has managed to do little but court controversy and fuel outrage.

This despite the NGT being manned by 10 judicial officials with the chairperson being a sitting or retired High Court Chief Justice or a Supreme Court Judge, and 10 bureaucratic ‘experts’, of the minimum rank of Additional Secretary, or Principal Secretary if serving/retired in the states, with at least 5 years experience in environmental matters. Or, ones holding a doctorate in the subject.

Its latest volley on banning/scrapping/impounding old diesel vehicles has come on 20^th July 2016, when it modified its earlier order of the 18^th , in the face of an uproar of protest from the automobile industry, the central government, and car owners, amongst others. 

On the 18^th , the NGT directed the Delhi Regional Transport Office (RTO), to forthwith de-register all diesel cars 10 years old, in order to prevent them plying in the NCR. Curiously, it was silent on the RTOs in Gurgaon, Noida, Bhiwadi and Alwar. On the 20^th , it  asked the Delhi RTO to begin de-registering 15 year-old diesel cars instead.  

This latest eruption was born, probably out of frustration, after the Delhi police reported that it was finding it very difficult to keep 10 year old diesel cars off the road, pursuant to the NGT’s earlier order of April 2015.

Some 10-15 year-old cars are taxis, representing the livelihood of the people plying them, having bought the older cars cheaply.

Besides, the 3,000 cars that were impounded over the last year, had to be let go with a fine, after various magistrates ordered their release.

Also, the Supreme Court, cleaning up  after the  NGT, which incidentally has powers equivalent only to a  ‘civic court’;  has earlier directed that NOCs be granted to all 10 year old diesel cars, impounded or otherwise, so that they could be sold in rural areas outside the NCR.

Now, the NGT, in an inadvertent over-ruling of the Supreme Court, says 15 year old vehicles must be scrapped, and no NOCs are to be given!

There is still no financial compensation mechanism instituted, and the NGT only envisages the DDA providing large parking lots where the scrapped vehicles can be parked.

There is utter confusion on whether 15 year-old trucks, buses etc. will be taken off too, being the most polluting of all. This, because of the chaos  that will result in the NCRs supply chain and public transport system if this is done.

The NGT is certainly going after the low-hanging fruit of diesel passenger cars, while doing absolutely nothing about construction dust, industrial pollution, and other particulate matter emitting activity.

This is both baffling and perplexing, and as ill-conceived as the disruptive even-odd programme run sporadically by the AAP government, without appreciably denting pollution statistics.

This latest ruling aimed at the NCR comes, despite the fact, that as recently as June 2016, the Kerala High Court has stayed the NGT’s Kerala branch orders of May 2016,banning and scrapping 10 year-old cars AND  trucks.

Happily, this fresh NCR ruling was promptly contested by the central government. 

The Additional Solicitor General, Ms Pinky Anand, appearing for the Ministry of Heavy Industry, described the NGT ruling of the 18^th as ‘harsh’, and stated that particulate matter from diesel vehicles, currently no more than 2%, would come down to the level emitted by petrol and CNG vehicles, via 2020 pollution control norms.

She pointed out that the automotive industry contributes over 8% of all FDI, and is a major source of employment generation under the government’s ‘Make In India’ programme.

Toyota has already called for a review before making fresh investments in India.

Ms Anand also pointed out that private vehicle owners had paid their 15 years worth of road tax, and had every right to ply their vehicles for that duration. 

This may have prompted the revision in stance on the 20^th.

Also, a number of automotive companies, including market leader Maruti, have added diesel engine and car manufacturing lines recently, spending crores of rupees to cater to the greater demand for economical to run diesel cars.

The NGT had, in fact, decreed, to no avail, in 2014, that all vehicles, both diesel and petrol were to be scrapped once they were 15 years old.

Industry observers and spokesmen, taken by surprise, felt that even the new orders will not withstand legal challenges.

The NGT had also banned new high-end diesel SUVs of over 2,000 cc capacity; exempting trucks, buses, and public service vehicles.

Expensive high-end SUVs , made with the latest technology, have minimal emissions, sometimes less than their latest petrol versions. This is possibly acknowledged in the order of the 20^th , with references to Bharat Stage I &II pollution norms named unacceptable.

However, this order has also been stayed by the Kerala High Court, and, under pressure, is presently held in abeyance in the NCR too.

For: The Quint

(851 words)

July 20^th, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee