New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- The Supreme Court has handed a breather to thousands of vehicle owners in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), ruling that no punitive action will be taken, for now, against diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles older than 15 years. The relief comes as the court reconsiders a decade-old ban that was introduced to curb the capital's poor air quality. That ban, born out of a 2015 order by the National Green Tribunal and upheld in 2018, was designed to pull high-polluting, ageing vehicles off the roads.

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The Delhi government has pushed back against the blanket age bar, arguing that it no longer reflects present-day realities. In its...