15-year-old govt vehicles likely to go off road from 2022

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification to disallow the re-registration of old government vehicles. This would make government vehicles ineligible for registration renewal after 15 years. The new rules are likely to come into effect from April 1, 2022.

According to the proposal, all vehicles belonging to the Central and State governments, Union Territories, local government institutions, PSUs, STUs, and other autonomous bodies with the Central and State governments, have been put under the ambit of this new proposed amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (1989).

The Ministry has published draft rules and will seek suggestions from stakeholders for 30 days before notifying them.

The move is seen to be in line with the government's recently announced Scrappage Policy, which aims to take old and higher polluting vehicles off the road for environmental protection.

While the MoRTH would waive off registration charges, it would also urge states to give a rebate on road tax and recommend OEMs to give a discount of up to 5 percent to customers who have scrapped their old vehicle.

There are more than 10 million old and polluting vehicles in India and this move is expected to get rid of old police vans, postal vans, state transport buses, and ambulances to name a few.