The Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which oversees pollution control in Delhi-NCR, has deferred the fuel ban on overaged vehicles. The rule prohibiting refuelling of ‘End-of- Life’ (EOL) vehicles will now be enforced from November 1, 2025, the panel confirmed in a statement.
End-of-Life (EOL) vehicles include diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years. These were to be denied fuel in Delhi from July 1, 2025, regardless of where they were registered. Authorities can verify a vehicle’s age through Registration Certificates (RCs), the Vehicle Aggregation at Highways and National (VAHAN) database, or by scanning Quick Response (QR) codes on High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) and fuel-type stickers.
The fuel ban will first be enforced in five National Capital Region (NCR) cities, including Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Sonipat. It will be extended to the rest of NCR later, CAQM said.
CAQM said fuel will be denied to all End-of-Life (EOL) vehicles from November 1, 2025, in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat. The restriction will then extend to the rest of the National Capital Region (NCR) from April 1, 2026.
On July 3, the Delhi government wrote a letter to CAQM, pointing out challenges in implementing Direction No. 89—citing gaps in infrastructure and operations since the directive was issued on April 23, 2025.
The delay in the End-of-Life vehicle ban came a day after Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa raised the Delhi government's request to CAQM. As per CAQM's official statement, Direction 89 will be amended to allow EOL vehicles to receive fuel from pumps till November 1.
The 24th meeting of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) was held on 8 July 2025, during which Delhi’s concerns about Direction No. 89 — mandating the fuel ban on End-of-Life vehicles — were deliberated, the panel said
Vehicle owners have received temporary relief as the fuel ban is delayed. The revised timeline gives them more time to scrap or replace overaged vehicles before the End-of-Life rule comes into effect in the region.
