CAQM Direction 102: Cleaner Goods Vehicles in NCR | CLAT

CURRENT AFFAIRS | 20 AUGUST 2026

At its 29th Full Commission meeting on 18 August 2026, chaired by Shri Rajesh Verma, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) approved the issuance of Direction No. 102, mandating a phased shift to cleaner Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) across Delhi-NCR. The reasoning is a study in targeted regulation. LGVs make up only about 1.2 per cent of the active vehicle stock, yet they account for roughly 3.3 per cent of particulate-matter emissions from the total active fleet — a disproportionate share that makes them an efficient point of intervention against PM2.5.

What the Direction restricts is new registration, not existing vehicles, and it does so on a staggered geography and timeline. Registration of Diesel, Petrol and CNG N1 LGVs will be restricted from 1 January 2027 in Delhi, and from 1 July 2027 in the five High Vehicle Density (HVD) districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar. In the remaining NCR districts, registration of Diesel and Petrol N1 LGVs will be restricted from 1 January 2028. For the heavier N2 category, phased restrictions begin on 1 January 2028, 1 July 2028 and 1 January 2029 respectively. For a CLAT aspirant, this is an ideal specimen of environmental administrative law: a statutory commission, a binding direction, a graded timetable and a constitutional right sitting underneath it all.

What N1 and N2 actually mean

The categories are not arbitrary. Under India’s vehicle classification, harmonised with international practice, category N covers power-driven vehicles used for the carriage of goods. Within it, N1 denotes goods vehicles with a gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3.5 tonnes — the small delivery vans and light pickups that swarm through last-mile logistics. N2 covers goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes, and N3 those above 12 tonnes. Sequencing N1 first and N2 later is deliberate: the lighter class has the most mature clean-fuel and electric alternatives, so the market can absorb a registration restriction sooner. Regulating registration rather than usage also uses a lever the State already controls — registration of motor vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — and avoids the enforcement nightmare of policing vehicles already on the road.

Dust, stone crushers and enforcement

The same meeting approved Direction No. 103 on air pollution from stone crushing units in NCR. Its method is to fold the dust-mitigation measures prescribed in the CPCB’s Environmental Guidelines for Stone Crushing Units, 2023 into the Consent to Operate (CTO) conditions of each unit. That is a quietly powerful device: guidelines are advisory, but a condition written into a consent is enforceable, and its breach can cost the unit its licence to operate. Direction 103 also provides for technology-enabled continuous remote monitoring — video surveillance, PM2.5 and PM10 sensors, and wheel washing — shifting enforcement from periodic inspection towards continuous data.

The Commission also approved a revised procedure for resumption of operations by units that have been shut under Closure Directions. A unit must now submit corrective and preventive compliance with supporting evidence and a notarised affidavit; the State Pollution Control Boards or the DPCC must verify it and concurrently recover applicable Environmental Compensation; and CAQM may conduct independent or random verification through CPCB Flying Squads, with further closure action where non-compliance is found. The scale is substantial: as on 10 August 2026, 1,816 violating units had been issued Closure Orders, of which 1,461 had been considered for resumption after compliance, while 126 cases were transferred to SPCBs and DPCCs for further action.

Compensation, research and the plantation ledger

Three further decisions are worth carrying into an exam. First, the Commission noted Environmental Compensation imposed on six thermal power plants for failing to meet biomass co-firing targets in 2024-25 — ₹61.85 crore imposed, of which 50 per cent, or ₹30.92 crore, had been received, in compliance with interim orders of the National Green Tribunal. Biomass co-firing, in which pelletised crop residue is burned alongside coal, is one of the few measures that attacks stubble burning from the demand side by creating a market for residue.

Second, financial assistance was approved for four R&D projects recommended by the Project Evaluation and Appraisal Committee under the Call for Proposals 2025-26, totalling ₹3,25,56,393 over two years. The subjects are revealing: road dust exposure, mechanical road sweeping technologies, particulate matter profiling and source apportionment in high-rise buildings, and forecasting of rice residue burning. Third, on greening, against an overall 2026-27 target of 4,60,54,740 plantations including trees, shrubs and bamboo, 2,53,30,816 had been achieved as on 4 August 2026, with the Commission advising authorities to ensure regular monitoring of plantation survival.

GRAP and the rhythm of Delhi’s air

The Commission was also apprised that Stage-I of the Graded Response Action Plan was invoked on 19 May 2026 and revoked on 29 May 2026, remaining in force for 11 days. GRAP is the emergency arm of NCR air management, operating in four stages keyed to the Air Quality Index: Stage I for ‘Poor’ air (AQI 201–300), Stage II for ‘Very Poor’ (301–400), Stage III for ‘Severe’ (401–450) and Stage IV for ‘Severe Plus’ (above 450), with restrictions tightening at each step from dust control and mechanised sweeping through to curbs on construction and non-essential trucking.

Two other items completed the agenda. The relaxation under Direction No. 65, valid till 13 September 2026, permits the temporary use of alternate fuels in place of natural gas by industries, hotels, restaurants and other enterprises in NCR including Delhi, in view of the extraordinary global energy supply situation arising from the conflict in the Middle East — a reminder that environmental regulation is not sealed off from geopolitics. And amendments were noted to Direction No. 86 of 2 January 2025, extending its implementation to other Municipal Corporations and larger towns in NCR, and to Direction No. 98 of 20 February 2026, extending to 1 October 2026 the timeline for implementing revised particulate matter emission standards for industries across Delhi-NCR.

Why it matters

Direction No. 102 illustrates a shift in Indian pollution control from crisis response to structural change. GRAP acts when the air is already unbreathable; a phased registration restriction acts on the composition of the fleet years in advance, so that by the time a bad winter arrives, fewer high-emission vehicles exist to make it worse. The trade-offs are real — small operators face higher upfront costs, and charging infrastructure must keep pace — and the staggered geography and timeline are precisely the mechanism for managing them. That balance between the Article 21 right to clean air and the Article 19(1)(g) right to carry on trade, which may be restricted by reasonable restrictions in the public interest under Article 19(6), is the constitutional question a good CLAT passage would build around.