New Delhi. Now 10 year old diesel and 15 year old petrol vehicles have started being seized in the country's capital Delhi. The special thing is that whether these vehicles are moving or parked on the road, both will be confiscated. The Transport Department of Delhi Government has issued a very strict order, which may create chaos in the coming days. Now the department will have the right to confiscate your 10 year old diesel vehicle or 15 year old petrol vehicle without any prior notice. In such a situation, if you have kept these vehicles in your house then be careful now.
According to the notice of Delhi Transport Department, now whether your vehicle is found moving on the road or parked in the parking lot outside your house, the rules will apply equally to both. These seized vehicles will be sent directly for scrap. Often people have a misconception that this rule is only for cars, but the department has made it clear that this order applies to all two-wheeler scooters, bikes and four-wheelers, jeeps, commercial vehicles.
10 year old diesel and 15 year old petrol vehicles seized
If your bike is more than 15 years old, it will also come under the purview of this action. The main objective of the transport department is to reduce toxic smoke and pollution in Delhi, in which old BS-3 and below standard engines are contributing the most.
According to an estimate, there are still around 20 to 25 lakh such vehicles on the streets of Delhi and in the parking lots of homes which have completed their technical life. A large number of these are two-wheelers. Registration of lakhs of vehicles has been canceled in the last few years, but the concern of the department is that these vehicles are still present within the city, which cause pollution from time to time.
This process of removing old vehicles has not started suddenly, but there is a long legal journey behind it:
- 2014-2015 (NGT order): National Green Tribunal (NGT) for the first time banned the plying of 10 year old diesel and 15 year old petrol vehicles in Delhi-NCR.
- 2018 (Supreme Court seal of approval): The Supreme Court, while upholding the NGT order, gave strict instructions to the Transport Department that the list of such vehicles should be made public and they should be removed.
- 2021-22 (Registration Cancellation): Delhi government started canceling the registration of such vehicles on a large scale and released the list of 'de-registered' vehicles.
- 2023-24 (Extension of scrap policy): The government created authorized scrapping centers in collaboration with private vendors and lured people with tax exemption on surrendering their vehicles themselves.
- 2026 (Latest Decree): Now the department has adopted the 'zero tolerance' policy and has chosen the path of direct seizure and scrapping, in which no notice of any kind will be given.
How to get NOC and transfer?
If your vehicle is about to reach its end of life, then the department has kept a small way open. You can transfer your vehicle to states outside Delhi-NCR by taking No Objection Certificate (NOC) in time. But remember, once the vehicle is seized, there will be no legal way to get it back or get the NOC.
According to government data of 2025 from the Transport Department, there were about 62 lakh such registered vehicles in Delhi, which included 41 lakh two-wheelers and 18 lakh four-wheelers. But the actual number is less than one-fourth of this, as many vehicles have already been de-registered or taken out of the NCR. Now in the current situation the number of two-wheelers may be around 2-3 lakh.
