Delhi government has announced its scrapping policy under which you will get only three weeks to get your vehicle back, else it will be sent for scrapping.
The transport department of the Delhi government has recently issued the guidelines outlining the process for retrieving impounded cars. To facilitate this, an online platform is being developed to connect vehicle owners, the enforcement agency, and registered vehicle scrapping facilities.
As per the guidelines, vehicle impounded for running beyond their end of life can now apply for their release within three weeks and await a decision from the enforcement agency within one week.
The Delhi government has also announced fees for the release of impounded vehicles. Owners of four-wheelers will have to pay INR 10,000, while owners of two-wheelers will be charged INR 5,000.
The release procedure for seized vehicles has been classified into two categories: vehicles being moved out of Delhi-NCR and those to be parked in private spaces that are not shared parking places.
Last year, on March 29, the transport department initiated a drive to impound vehicles that had exceeded their life expectancy and send them for scrapping. Thousands of two-wheelers and four-wheelers were subsequently taken into custody. According to the guidelines, petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years are considered to have reached the end of their life in the capital.
The impounding drive faced legal challenges, leading to the Delhi High Court ordering the conditional release of the seized vehicles. The recently announced guidelines are a result of this court order. Impounded vehicles will be scrapped under three scenarios: non-submission of an application for release within three weeks of impounding, rejection of the application by the enforcement agency, or if a vehicle is impounded for the second time or is a transport vehicle running on diesel fuel and aged more than 10 years.
According to the Delhi government’s Statistical Handbook 2023, as of March 31 last year, there were 79.4 lakh registered motor vehicles on the road in Delhi, marking a 0.3% increase from the previous year. By March 2023, 62,59,214 vehicles had been deregistered as they had reached the end of their petrol and diesel life terms. In the fiscal year 2022-23, over 1.4 lakh overaged vehicles were scrapped, compared to 4,923 in the previous fiscal year.
In an effort to reduce pollution in the city and encourage people to scrap their older vehicles instead of abandoning them on the roads, the Delhi government initiated the impounding drive. The guidelines and procedures now in place aim to streamline the process of releasing impounded vehicles and ensure proper scrapping under specific circumstances.
