Age of vehicle has nothing to do with emission of pollution: CJI Gavai

Chief Justice of India today said that pollution caused by vehicles may not depend upon their age alone. This remark was made by CJI Gavai while he was hearing the pollution case.

"Yesterday I read an article, the age of the vehicle has nothing to do with the emission of pollution....some vehicles may run 30,000 km in a year. Like our vehicles for 5 years would not even run 15,000 km in a span of 5 years," the CJI said.

CJI further said that emission also depends on the mileage of a vehicle.

Notably, the court has directed that the instant matter shall be taken up on a monthly basis where action taken reports shall be submitted before it by the government authorities.

The bench also comprising Justice Chandran heard the issue of allowance being paid to construction workers. On this the bench has asked all NCR states to take instructions on the subsistence allowance and place on record before the court on the next day of hearing.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, also referred to the earlier order of the Court which restrained coercive action against diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years plying in the Delhi-National Capital Region. Saying that BS-IV vehicles are exempted from GRAP measures, she requested similar measures for BS-III vehicles, because they would already be 15 years old.

Issuing notice on a plea moved by the Delhi government, a Chief Justice of India B R Gavai led bench had recently ordered, “In the meantime, no coercive steps to be taken against the owners of the car on the ground that they are 10 years old in respect to diesel vehicles and 15 years old with respect to petrol vehicles.”

Delhi government moved an application before the Supreme Court of India asking it to reconsider its 2018 end-of-life vehicle ban whereby the National Capital Region is required to phase out petrol vehicles that are over 15 years old and diesel vehicles that are over 10 years old. The application stated that these age-based standards disregard advancements in vehicle emissions technology and current roadworthiness.

In the pollution case hearing, Supreme Court was told on Monday that construction activity in the Delhi NCR region should have stopped six months ago. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan had told a CJI Gavai led bench that, "When we react to 7 people losing lives in terrorist attack, lung cancer millions are losing their lives..it has become an emergent issue now..construction should have stopped six months ago..GRAP should be triggered the minute AQI crosses 100..".

Senior Advocate and Amicus Curiae Aparajita Singh had told the bench that farmers were told to burn their crops after a particular time so that the satellites don't catch images. To this the CJI asked, "Are all farmers deciding a particular time to burn their crops?". The bench went on to question as to who was directing the farmers to burn the crops after a particular time.

Recently, the Supreme Court had called for a report from Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and the Central Pollution Control Board on the steps taken to prevent the pollution from worsening further. Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh had informed the bench that newspapers had reported that many monitoring stations are non-functional. "If the monitoring stations are not even functioning, we don't even know when to implement GRAP, that is the severe situation milords", Singh added. ASG Aishwarya Bhatti told the bench that the requisite reports would be filed.

Case Title: MC Mehta vs. Union of India

Bench: CJI, Justices Chandran

Hearing Date: November 19, 2025