In the last 4 years, nearly 24,000 owners sold their overage vehicles outside Delhi. Here’s why

Currently, the city has around 1.2 lakh to 1.5 lakh overage or end-of-life (ELV) vehicles, said officials.

The Transport Department started de-registering ELVs in January 2022 in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal; as of November 13, it has de-registered about 60 lakh vehicles.

However, senior officials in the Transport Department said the numbers look big as many of these vehicles are only on paper. “When we started digitising records, details of all registered vehicles were uploaded onto the dashboard… Many of these vehicles were very old and were either sold or scrapped. To find out how many vehicles are plying on city roads, the department conducted a study through IIT-Delhi last year and found out that there are around only 2 lakh ELVs — personal cars, cabs and others — in the city,” said an official.

In 2023, the Delhi government launched an enforcement drive against all ELVs and impounded around 15,000 vehicles. The drive was stopped after several owners filed petitions in the court. To combat air pollution ahead of winter, the department re-launched the drive on October 11 this year and has impounded over 4,000 vehicles.

Officials said nearly 25% of people whose vehicles have been impounded in the ongoing enforcement drive have been issued a provisional release order through the department’s newly launched online portal.

“Provisional release orders have been issued for about 20-25% vehicles; most sought NOCs. This order is given to first-time offenders on an undertaking on stamp paper that they will not park their vehicles or drive them in the city. The process is similar for an NoC. If any owner wants to sell their vehicle in other states, they will have to submit an undertaking and pay a fine,” said a senior official.

The Scrapping Cell issues a release permit or an NOC only if it finds that the application and the condition of the vehicle are satisfactory.

Officials offered another reason — resale value being higher than scrap value. “The money one gets from scrapping a vehicle is very little. For instance, people spend lakhs to buy an expensive car like a Mercedes but the scrap value of such a car is only around Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000…,” said an official.

For others, it could be pure sentimental value that makes them not want to scrap their vehicle, added officials.