Supreme Court approves colour coding of vehicles as per fuel type

Grappling with issue of air pollution, Delhi-NCR will soon see cars with orange and blue stickers as markers to identify polluting levels. The Supreme Court of India has accepted government's proposal to colour-code vehicles in New Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) according to the fuel they run on.

The apex court ruling allows for blue stickers to be used for vehicles running on petrol and CNG, and orange stickers for diesel vehicles. However, it clarified that this would only be applicable in Delhi and NCR.

Earlier, the Pollution Control Board (PCB) had told the court that the new hologram-based colour-coded stickers are important as they will help in the identification of polluting vehicles to curb air pollution in New Delhi and the neighbouring cities.

The PCB also cited an example of the city of Paris where colour-coded schemes help in proper implementation of odd-even scheme. With colour-coded vehicles, it will be easier to implement the odd-even vehicle rotation scheme in Delhi along with identifying older vehicles, the board said.

The Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) told the court that this is a welcome suggestion and that the government has proposed to issue green number plates for electric vehicles.

The PCB further suggested that the use of hydrogen and CNG mixed fuel would help in curbing air pollution as compared to using just CNG. It also asserted that state-run oil company, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has the conversion machine for this.

"We already have CNG network in the city and if we bring the mixture of hydrogen and CNG, it would be much better," the EPCB said.

A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, and comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was hearing the petition filed by noted environmentalist M C Mehta, seeking a direction to take proper steps to deal with pollution in Delhi and NCR.