Odd-Even rule in Delhi on hold? Government waits for Supreme Court's review

The Odd-Even rule in Delhi to curb vehicular pollution amid high AQI levels could be postponed. On Wednesday, the Delhi government said it will wait for a review from the Supreme Court on the effectiveness of the move. Earlier, the government had announced that the vehicle rationing system will be introduced from November 13, a day after Diwali festivals, in an effort to bring down vehicular pollution amid severe AQI levels. The national capital is already under stage four of GRAP, the highest alert state to battle pollution.

Gopal Rai, Environment Minister of Delhi, hinted that the Odd-Even rule could be on hold for the time being. He said the government will decide its next course of action after the Supreme Court reviews the effectiveness and issues an order on Odd-Even rule. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had observed that the Odd-Even rule does not effectively help bringing down pollution and that it is more of an optics. It said that pollution level can spike due to various factors like dust, dry-cold weather, stubble burning among others.

Gopal Rai addressed a press conference on Wednesday, where he said, “Two studies on the impact of the odd even scheme have been conducted in the past; one by Harvard University and other by Delhi Technical University. The reports will be submitted to the SC and as per the directions of the SC a final decision in alignment with the SC directions will be taken on Friday."

The Odd-Even vehicle rationing system restricts private vehicles to operate on alternate days based on their registration numbers. For instance, registration numbers ending with odd numbers will be allowed to ply on odd dates. Cars and two-wheelers which have registration ending with even numbers will be allowed to ply on even dates.

In earlier cases, the Odd-Even rule exempted vehicles including two-wheelers, electric vehicles, CNG vehicle, vehicles with women passengers, children aged up to 12 years, taxis, physically disabled people, VIPs, emergency and defence vehicles. However, the last time odd-even rule kicked in, CNG vehicles were kept out of the exempted list.

If the Delhi government implements the Odd-Even rule, this will be the fourth time that the national capital will witness the scheme to keep vehicular pollution in check. The Odd-Even rule was first introduced back in 2016. It was implemented in 2016, 20017 and 2019.