The Supreme Court (SC) of India has issued a number of directives aimed towards reducing air pollution in the country. A bench comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta has also directed that the insurance policy of a vehicle should not be renewed unless the owner provides a Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate. It is said that a vehicle owner should produce the last four or at least last two pollution certificates in order to get the insurance renewed.
Image for representation purpose only
The bench of judges further added that a few fuel filling outlets in the NCR region did not have PUC centres and asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to ensure that also the fuel pumps in the region have a functional PUC centre within four weeks.
Also read: Mumbai: To reduce pollution, BMC proposes ban on all new bike and car registrations
The directive was issued during a hearing for a PIL filed by environmentalist M.C. Mehta back in 1985 that dealt with various aspects of pollution. The bench of judges also took note of the suggestions by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) such as strengthening inspection of the PUC centres. The Centre was asked to implement the suggestions as they would help in reducing pollution.
With inputs from PTI