More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 2, 2025

 

--HC notice to Delhi govt, air quality body on Delhi petrol pump owners plea 

--Delhi petrol pump owners contest fine on violating old vehicles fuel ban 

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Delhi government and the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas on a petition by the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association challenging fines and prosecution against petrol pump owners if they violate the ban on giving fuel to old vehicles in Delhi. The court will hear the petrol pump owners' plea challenging the penalty and prosecution under Section 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1998 in September.

 

From Tuesday, petrol pumps in the national capital halted refuelling of old vehicles, following a notice from the Commission for Air Quality Management. According to the air quality body, old vehicles include 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles. The Delhi government's transport department, the Delhi Traffic Police, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have worked together to implement the ban.

 

Penalty orders of the Delhi government have burdened petrol pump owners with the responsibility of implementing the ban without them being necessarily equipped or authorised under any law to carry out such responsibility, said the petition. The Delhi government's orders fail to appreciate that petrol pump owners are merely private entities operating under licence agreements with respective oil marketing companies, and are not clothed with any power or authority to perform law enforcement duties, which are essentially public functions to be performed by state entities, it added.

 

Petrol pump owners said that by forcing them to perform law enforcement duties, the penalty 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 law-enforcing agency. "The impugned orders are also manifestly arbitrary, irrational, unreasonable, and disproportionate for the reason that they seek to penalise petrol pump owners for acts which may arise from sheer inadvertence and at times, for reasons beyond the control of the petrol pump owners and their attendants," said the association.

 

Further, in a situation where a petrol pump sees an average footfall of about 3,000 vehicles a day which purchase fuel from multiple dispensing units simultaneously, the possibility of inadvertence due to such a large volume cannot be ruled out, said the association. However, such inadvertence or inability on petrol pump owners' part to comply with the said rule, even for reasons beyond their control, is being met with a disproportionate and unreasonable penalty of prosecution under Section 192 of the 1988 Act, it added.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.