Delhi’s entry ban on non-city private vehicles below BS-VI comes into force
The ban on entry of non-Delhi private vehicles below BS-VI standards and the enforcement of the ‘No PUC, No Fuel’ rule came into force in the national capital on Thursday (December 18, 2025), as authorities stepped up measures to tackle worsening air pollution.
Fuel pumps are not dispensing fuel to vehicles without valid PUC certificates, and this is being enforced with the help of automatic number plate reader cameras, voice alerts at pumps, and police support.
According to officials, 580 police personnel have been deployed at 126 checkpoints, including borders.
Additionally, enforcement teams of the Transport Department have been deputed at petrol pumps and border points for effective implementation, they added.
The entry ban on non-compliant BS-VI vehicles, however, does not apply to vehicles running on CNG or electric power, public transport, vehicles carrying essential commodities or providing essential services.
Vehicles carrying construction materials are also not permitted to enter the city under the GRAP IV restrictions.
Petrol dealers’ body flags challenges
Petrol dealers’ body DPDA has flagged several challenges in implementing the Delhi government’s order barring fuel sell to vehicles without valid emission check certificates.
The Delhi Petrol Dealers’ Association (DPDA), in a representation to environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said it extends “whole-hearted support” to all measures taken by the Delhi government aimed at combatting the severe air pollution.
However, it said that while “extraordinary steps are indeed necessary”, the effective enforcement of the directive remains “an extremely difficult and arduous task” unless key concerns are addressed.
The association said Delhi’s residents are suffering more from transboundary pollution than from sources within the city limits and that “measures confined solely to the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi are unlikely to yield the desired results unless uniformly implemented across the entire National Capital Region (NCR).
It pointed out that refusal of an essential commodity by any retail outlet is covered under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply, Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 1998, and said the “refusal of sale has to be decriminalised by the relevant authority” for petrol pumps to effectively carry out the directive.
DPDA said that petrol pumps are not an enforcement agency, and the implementation of the “No PUCC, No Fuel” rule “has to be done by the competent authorities vested with statutory powers”.
It added that petrol pump staff are “never looked upon by the customers as an enforcing authority” and that denial of fuel could lead to “law-and-order disturbances”.
The association also sought that “penal actions against petrol pump dealers should be avoided”, stating they are “helping the government in implementing the order.
Among other concerns, the DPDA said the emission checking system is “obsolete and needs to be upgraded” and that there is “no dashboard/live feed provided along with the ANPR cameras installed at the retail outlets”.
It said a true trial run has “never been established”, and that the previous trial run had yielded “a lot of junk data being transmitted into the petrol pumps leading to the failure of the drive”.
The association requested that the issues be resolved for the successful implementation of the directive.
