Delhi High Court refuses to stay seasonal vehicle restriction, seeks response on challenge

The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to put on hold a Delhi government rule that keeps non-Delhi-registered vehicles below BS-VI emission norms off the capital’s roads during winter. It did, however, ask the authorities to respond to a petition against the restriction.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre decided not to grant any interim relief for now and asked the respondents to file their replies.

The case will be heard next on November 27.

The petition targets Paragraph 4 of Part I of a notification dated June 23, 2026. The Department of Environment and Forests of the Delhi government issued it under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

According to the plea, the impugned direction provides that from November 1 to January 31, vehicles registered outside the National Capital Territory and falling below BS-VI emission standards will not be permitted to ply in Delhi.

The restriction comes into force automatically every year from November 1, the petition states.

The petitioner has challenged the restriction on the ground that it treats otherwise comparable vehicles differently based on their place of registration. The plea contends that a BS-IV vehicle registered outside Delhi is barred from entering the city during the specified period, while a comparable Delhi-registered BS-IV vehicle is not subject to the same restriction.

The plea also questions the proportionality of the three-month blanket restriction, arguing that it operates irrespective of the Air Quality Index on a particular day.

It further contends that the restriction is inconsistent with the staged framework for vehicular pollution control under the Graded Response Action Plan.

The petition seeks the suspension of the impugned direction and its eventual quashing to the extent challenged.

Advocate Anurag Saxena appeared for the petitioner along with Advocates Sonica Ghosh, Deepak Atrey and Gurmukh Dass Kohli.

The respondents include the Government of NCT of Delhi, its Department of Environment and Forests and Transport Department, Delhi Police, the Commission for Air Quality Management and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.