Government Vehicles Older Than 15 Years To Be Scrapped, Here’s Why

Friyana Munshi

New Delhi, March 13, 2021: The government has taken another step towards implementing the vehicle scrapping policy announced during the Union Budget across the country. If the proposal sent by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is approved, then the government departments will not be able to renew the registration of vehicles older than 15 years from 1 April 2022. The government has issued a draft notification seeking the suggestions of stakeholders for amendment in the relevant rules in this regard.

In order to control the ever-increasing pollution levels in the country, a scraping policy has been introduced so that the old polluting vehicles can be removed from the road and it will be started from government departments. After the approval of the proposal sent by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, vehicles older than 15 years will be removed from the roads in all government departments of India. These rules will be applicable to the Central, State Governments, Union Territories, Public Undertakings, Municipal and Autonomous Bodies.

The information regarding the same has been provided by a tweet from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. This tweet states that “from the next 1 April 2022, government departments will not be able to renew their vehicle registration certificate after 15 years. This rule is applicable to all governments – Central, State, Union Territories, Public Sector Undertakings, Municipal Bodies. And will apply to autonomous bodies.”

The government had earlier stated that it plans to impose a green tax on old polluting vehicles soon, to protect the environment and curb pollution, while driving on hybrid, electric vehicles, and alternative fuels such as CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted. The revenue collected through green tax will be used to combat pollution.