Vehicle condition, not age, should be the criteria for deregistration: SIAM

Last month, owners of diesel vehicles that are 10 years or older in Delhi were taken by surprise when the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Delhi government to deregister those vehicles in order to curb pollution.

The directive could affect close to 300,000 vehicles. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) appreciates the idea of removing old vehicles that follow less stringent emission norms, but doesn't agree with NGT that the age of a vehicle should be the deciding factor.

According to Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM, it has to be based on the condition of the vehicle. "You may have a 5-year-old vehicle, which could be in such a bad shape that it doesn’t deserve to be on the roads. Or you may have a 20-year-old vehicle, which has been maintained well and has not lived its economic life. There is no cause for that vehicle to be removed from the road," Mathur told Autocar Professional.

Mathur cites examples of some matured automotive markets which have regulations to scrap old vehicles based on their fitness level alone. "All countries including the USA, European nations, Japan and others follow proper inspection and certification procedures," he says. India is yet to see such a regulation for passenger vehicles. It is mandatory for commercial vehicles in India to undergo a periodical fitness test, but it is not followed strictly. A new inspection and certification regulation covering all types of vehicles is expected soon. Owners whose vehicles get scrapped are likely to receive fiscal incentives while buying a new one.

If road worthiness of a vehicle becomes the sole criteria to decide whether a vehicle gets deregistered or not then in the event of any vehicle failing the fitness test, the onus will be on the owner to invest in making his/her vehicle roadworthy or scrap it and buy a new one.

Notably, there are around 10 vehicle inspection and certification centres already across India. The first of these – the Automated Centre for Testing & Inspection of Vehicles (ACTIV) – was set up by SIAM at Pandurna, Madhya Pradesh. All centres are funded by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).