While the traffic police aggressively penalises ordinary citizens for pollution violations, are they equally tough on Delhi government vehicles?
Using the mParivahan app, Newslaundry sifted through a list of 107 Delhi government vehicles and found that at least 66 lacked pollution under control certificates. But only six vehicles were issued challans for lacking PUC certificates between February 2024 and February this year – despite pollution-induced restrictions.
This list of 107 vehicles was originally part of a petition filed last year before the National Green Tribunal by BJP’s Rohtas Nagar MLA Jitendra Mahajan. He had claimed several of these vehicles lacked PUC certificates and were beyond their legal lifespan – 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol. He alleged that there was no action against such vehicles and the problem could be much larger as the Delhi government’s fleet consisted of nearly 3,000 vehicles.
When Newslaundry looked at the list of 107 vehicles on the mParivahan app this week, only six vehicles were found to have updated their PUC certificates while data was unavailable for 35 others.
No action against official vehicles?
Mahajan had approached the NGT after his observations about the vehicle which was then allotted to him as the Shahdara District Development Committee chairman. In February, the NGT had issued a notice to the transport department, Delhi government and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. It will next hear the matter on May 26.
“In January 2024, the government-allotted vehicle was causing excessive air pollution. When the PUC certificate of the vehicle was checked, I found that it had expired,” claimed Mahajan, adding that he raised the issue several times before various officials but “got no help”. If his own government vehicle was non-compliant, what about the others? He then sifted through lists of government vehicles and claimed to have found that many plied without PUC certificates or beyond their legal lifespans.
Mahajan’s lawyer KK Mishra claimed there are around 3,000 Delhi government vehicles in total. Newslaundry could not independently verify this figure or how many of these plied in violation of norms.
Mishra claimed crores are collected in revenue through fines imposed on the general public when restrictions such as GRAP are in place, but there is leniency for the government’s own fleet.
For ordinary Delhi residents, the Motor Vehicles Act threatens registration suspension, fines up to Rs 10,000, license cancellation, and even imprisonment for pollution violations.
Reached for comment, Special CP Traffic Ajay Chaudhury said “we signal vehicles to stop” without “favour or bias”. “Delhi transport officials issue challans too. They have more powers,” he said, adding that the police don't maintain a department-wise database of vehicles issued challans. He also said that in the financial year 2024-25, 2.14 lakh vehicles were issued challans for PUC certificate violations.
Newslaundry reached out to Delhi transport department public relations officer for comment. This report will be updated if they respond.
Research assistance by Megha Bhardwaj.
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