No new registration of diesel-run taxis in Delhi: Supreme Court

The apex court has allowed existing diesel taxis to operate in Delhi till the expiry of their permit

There will be no new registration of diesel-run taxis in the national capital, the Supreme Court today directed but gave a breather to cabs having all India tourist permits to ply in the national capital till the expiry of their permits.

"No new diesel taxis will be registered in Delhi. All registration of city taxis shall only be permitted only if the vehicles operate on dual-fuel (CNG/Petrol), or purely CNG or petrol. We make it clear that no new diesel vehicles can be registered as city taxis," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.

The apex court allowed existing All India Tourist Permit (AITP) diesel taxis to operate in the national capital till the expiry of their permit, which is issued for a period of five years, and said no renewal of the same would be done.

New AITP permits will be labelled 'AITP-N' and holders will not be authorised to offer point-to-point (within city) services in NCR while existing AITPs will be converted to 'AITP-O' permits for NCR to provide point-to-point services, like those used by business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, the court added.

It, however, clarified that diesel cabs which are being allowed to ply will run subject to norms on safety, security, pricing and other clearances given by competent authorities.

"Safety and security is an important aspect as you must have seen some of the recent incidents," the bench observed.

The top court also said that AITP taxi would be allowed to carry out point to point travel service within NCT.

The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, modified its earlier orders which barred diesel taxis from plying in NCR.

The order came after senior advocate Harish Salve, appointed as amicus curiae in the case, told the bench that the ban order has forced 64,500 taxis off the road leading to a trouble situation overnight.

He suggested that Centre should issue norms for regulating taxis having All India Permits and it should decide a way forward for non-diesel cabs.

"The Centre should give new tourism permits allowing taxis to cater to point to point travel services within NCR. Meanwhile, let the present situation continue till the Centre comes out with new Rules regulating them," Salve said.

Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar argued that NCR-specific rules would be difficult to formulate, as AITP rules were meant for the whole country.

IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) assured the court that all its future contracts would ensure that cabs will only be non-diesel cabs.
On April 30, the apex court had refused to extend the

deadline fixed for diesel taxis including those run by aggregators like OLA and UBER in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) for their conversion into less-polluting CNG mode.

The bench, while rejecting the plea that it would affect livelihood of poor drivers, had said that it can't keep on extending the time as there was technology available for conversion.

The court had on December 16 last year considered the contention of Salve that all diesel taxis be moved to CNG fuel within a reasonable time but not later than March 1, 2016.

"We, therefore, direct that all taxis including those operating under aggregators like OLA and UBER in the NCT of Delhi, plying under city permits shall move to CNG not later than March, 1," it had said and later extended the period to April 30.