Delhi fuel ban: Delhi HC seeks authorities' response on plea over penalty to petrol pump owners

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Delhi government and CAQM on a plea against orders prosecuting and penalising petrol pump owners for non-compliance with the ''no fuel to end of life vehicles''.

According to latest rules, petrol pumps across Delhi have been asked not to provide fuel to end-of-life vehicles (ELV) starting July 1 under the directions of the CAQM, with the transport department along with Delhi Police and traffic personnel putting in place a detailed enforcement strategy to ensure strict compliance.

Justice Mini Pushkarna issued notice to the Delhi government and Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and adjoining areas on the petition filed by Delhi Petrol Dealers Association.

The court asked the authorities to file their replies to the plea and posted the matter in September.

The petitioner has moved court against the move which reportedly requires petrol pump owners to enforce the directions for which they do not have any legal authority in law or face penalty for non-compliance. Advocates Anand Varma, Adyasha Nanda and Apoorva Pandey, representing the petitioner, submitted the dealers were not opposed to the implementation of CAQM's directions which restrict fuel supply to ELVs.

''We are aggrieved by the application of Section 192 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to petrol pump owners which is otherwise not applicable to them in law,'' the counsel said. It was further argued, ''In essence, petrol pump dealers are being required to enforce the directions for which they do not have any authority in law, and then they are also being penalised for any non-compliance which may happen due to sheer inadvertence.'' The lawyers said the court also recorded that if there was any action taken under the MV Act, the same should be brought to its attention.

Seeking to set aside the orders, the plea said the orders failed to appreciate that petrol pump owners were merely private entities operating pumps under license agreements with respective oil marketing companies, without power or authority to perform law enforcement duties essentially performed by state entities.

By forcing such petrol pump owners to perform law enforcement duties, the impugned orders are undermining the rule of law which dictates that it is the ultimate responsibility of the state to prevent any illegal activity and that non-state actors cannot be allowed to take the place of law or the law-enforcing agency, it said.

The plea alleged the arbitrariness in penalising petrol pump owners for sheer inadvertence and at times, for reasons beyond their control.

A petrol pump faces an average footfall of about 3,000 vehicles in a day for purchasing fuel from multiple dispensing units simultaneously and the possibility of inadvertence due to such large volume cannot be ruled out, it added.

''However, such inadvertence or inability on their part to comply with the rule, even for reasons beyond their control is being met with a disproportionate and unreasonable penalty of prosecution under Section 192 of Motor The plea also claimed of being cognisant of the fact that necessary steps in the NCR and adjoining areas were needed for effectively curbing air pollution.

According to officials, overage vehicles running on CNG are exempt from action.

A Supreme Court judgment in 2018 banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi. A 2014 National Green Tribunal order also prohibits the parking of vehicles aged over 15 years in public places.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)