The National Green Tribunal has raised questions against the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways regarding the delay in issuing guidelines on scrapping of vehicles.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel stated that a proper mechanism to set up authorised recycling centres that are compliant with environmental norms was an urgent need due to the massive number of ‘End of Life’ Vehicles (ELV).
The NGT also stated that it found the Transport Ministry’s response to its queries “very unsatisfactory and lacking in sensitivity," further stating that there was no explanation for the unexpectedly long delay in issuing the notification. In light of the ongoing pandemic, the bench decided to “granted further time of two months for issuing requisite notification."
The NGT has stated that the draft guidelines for the same has been uploaded on the Transport Ministry’s official website for public comments. So far they have been suitably modified according to the inputs but a concrete notification is yet to be issued under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 after the Cabinet’s approval.
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The tribunal has also put out a warning that if no notification is issued before January 6 next year, Transport Ministry’s Joint Secretary will have to appear in-person and explain why action should not be taken for the unnecessary delay.
The NGT estimates that the number of vehicles nearing ther lifecycle will be over 2.1 crore by 2025. It had directed the government to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to set up authorised recycling centres to scrap cars scientifically.
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