New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a temporary halt on coercive measures against owners of older diesel and petrol vehicles in Delhi.

The direction came from a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, along with Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria. The court stated that no coercive steps should be taken against diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, pending further consideration of the matter.

“Issue notice returnable in 4 weeks. In the meantime no coercive steps to be taken against the owners of cars on the ground that they are 10 years old in respect to diesel vehicles and 15 years old with respect to petrol vehicles,” the Bench stated in its interim order.

The Court made this observation while hearing an application filed by the Delhi government, which sought a review of its 2018 order banning 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in the National Capital Region (NCR) as a pollution control measure.

During the proceedings, the Bench also made a remark about the longevity of cars in earlier times, saying, “Earlier, one used to use cars for 40-50 years. Now still vintage cars are there.”