All govt vehicles older than 15 years to be scrapped from April 1. Details here

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified that all the vehicles owned by central and state governments, including buses owned by transport corporations and public sector undertakings, which are older than 15 years, will be deregistered and scrapped, starting from April 1, 2023. However, this rule will not apply to special-purpose vehicles like armoured vehicles or any other specialised vehicles., which are used for the operational purpose for the defence of the country and for maintaining law and order and internal security, the MoRTH notification has further stated.

The notification comes in line with the announcement made in the Union Budget 2021-22. The central government has adopted the strategy to ensure fitness tests for personal vehicles that are older than 20 years, while commercial vehicles will require it after 15 years. The auto industry believes this strategy of discouraging vehicle owners from using old and polluting vehicles would boost sales of new and cleaner vehicles, eventually helping the industry to grow. The MoRTH, in its notification, also said that the scrapping of these old vehicles would be done through the government-registered vehicle scrapping facilities set up in accordance with the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules 2021.

The policy has become effective from April 1 last year. To encourage vehicle owners to decommission the old and polluting vehicles, the central government also announced that the state governments and union territories would provide up to 25 per cent tax rebate on road tax for vehicles purchased after scrapping old vehicles.

Union minister for road, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari had said last year that he aims to develop at least one vehicle scrapping facility within 150 kilometres of each city centre. He also asserted that India has the potential to become a vehicle scrapping hub of the entire South Asian region.