EPCA to Ensure Mandatory Linking of PUC with Vehicle Insurance in India

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) said they will work with insurance bodies to ensure complete compliance of the Supreme Court order of mandatory linking of pollution under control (PUC) certificate with issue of annual vehicle insurance. The insurance bodies said they will also start a pilot project in Delhi region to identify the set of vehicles that do not come back for registration of the PUC.

"We will then share the details of such vehicles with the Transport Department," the companies said. The EPCA also said it would direct the Delhi government to "strongly advertise that insurance is mandatory and so is PUC".

"What we can make sure that there is good compliance of the order in Delhi NCR," said Sunita Narain, EPCA member. "Let us work towards 100 per cent insurance and 100 per cent PUC compliance in NCR and see what are the loopholes and let us see how the improvements can be made," she said.

In July, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) had said vehicles without a PUC certificate will not be insured. The IRDA, in a notification, had directed all general insurance companies not to insure a vehicle unless it has a valid PUC certificate. Vehicle insurance is renewed every year. The insurance regulator's move follows an order of the Supreme Court in this regard.

In August 2017, the apex court in M C Mehta vs Union of India and others case had directed insurers not to insure a vehicle unless it has a valid PUC certificate on the date of renewal of the insurance policy.

It is mandatory for every vehicle owner to have a valid PUC certificate to comply with the prescribed emission norms. A vehicle without such certificate is liable to be prosecuted under the Motor Vehicles Act. Computerised facilities for checking pollution levels and issue of PUC certificate - to vehicles meeting emission standards - are available at many petrol pumps/workshops.