On October 30, 2025, the Delhi government suspended the draconian one-year NOC deadline that had trapped lakhs of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in the capital’s scrapyard limbo. The restrictive clause—buried in the “Guidelines for Handling End of Life Vehicles in Public Places of Delhi, 2024”—had barred owners of diesel cars over 10 years and petrol cars over 15 years from obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) if their registration expired more than 12 months ago. Now, any deregistered vehicle, regardless of how ancient its RC, can secure an NOC to re-register outside Delhi-NCR, instantly unlocking a legal escape route from the Supreme Court-mandated ban enforced since 2018.

Transport Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh hailed the move as a “dual victory” for citizens and the environment. “The one-year rule created an unintended logjam—vehicles couldn’t be scrapped fast enough, nor moved out,” he told reporters. “Lakhs were marooned, rusting on streets, leaking oil, and clogging parking. This relaxation empowers owners to act responsibly: sell, relocate, or scrap—while systematically phasing out 1.5–2 lakh polluting ELVs from Delhi’s roads in the next 12–18 months.” Data from the Delhi Transport Department reveals over 55 lakh vehicles are registered in the capital, with ~4–5 lakh hitting the age ban annually; the backlog of “stranded” ELVs had ballooned to nearly 1.2 lakh due to the NOC chokehold.

The policy directly aligns with National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders from 2021–2022 and the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) ecosystem, but flips the script on enforcement rigidity. Previously, owners faced a brutal trilemma: (1) scrap at authorized centers (often 200–300 km away in Uttar Pradesh or Haryana), (2) pay ₹5,000–10,000/month in impound fines, or (3) abandon vehicles illegally.

Now, a simple online application via Parivahan portal—uploading RC, pollution certificate, and chassis photos—triggers NOC issuance within 7 working days, enabling re-registration in lenient states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, or Northeast corridors where 15-year diesel bans don’t apply. Scrap value? ₹15,000–40,000 for sedans, plus 5% rebate on new BS-VI purchases under the national scrapping policy.

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Environmentalists and urban planners are celebrating the domino effect. Delhi’s PM2.5 from vehicular sources—currently 18–22% of total emissions—could drop 3–5% as 50,000–70,000 ELVs exit annually, per Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) models. Congestion relief is equally tangible: ~80,000 parking slots in residential colonies and 1,500 km of road space occupied by derelict cars will be reclaimed. Authorized scrappers in Alipur and Mundka report 30% booking spikes within hours of the announcement, while used-car markets in Jaipur and Indore brace for a diesel flood—potentially depressing 10-year-old SUV prices by 15–20%.

For Delhiites, the message is clear: your 2012 Innova or 2008 Swift isn’t doomed—it’s reborn elsewhere. The transport department has launched a 30-day amnesty window waiving pending fines for NOC applications filed by November 30, 2025. As winter smog looms and GRAP-IV curbs threaten, this policy isn’t just relief—it’s a masterstroke in pollution exile, proving that sometimes the greenest solution is letting old cars roll out, not rust in.

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