[johannskaria]

In a bid to curb pollution, the Supreme Court on Thursday came out with a direction to insurance companies that they should not renew the insurance of a vehicle unless the owner provides a pollution under control (PUC) certificate.

The court granted four weeks time to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to ensure that all fuel refilling centres has functional PUC centres put up in the NCR.

The Bench was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by environmentalist M.C. Mehta way back in 1985 and considered the suggestions given by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA).

Article link

[Rodie09]

This is simply laughable!

While I respect the intent, the route taken is a joke.

The IRDA has the data that 60% vehicles on Indian roads are completely uninsured and are therefore illegally plying. They have the names, the addresses but no intent to take an action against this illegality.

Why not have a law that "No fuel" without insurance (which is mandatory)?

As far as PUC goes, everyone knows even a dog can get a PUC. In past PUC was obtained even for junked vehicles.

PUC is nothing but a huge money making scam - I really doubt if the PUC thing really contributes even an iota towards pollution control.

All the thick smoke spewing vehicles belong to the categories where no road worthiness or any kind of proper paperwork exists.

Law will be applicable to only private cars which are anyway much above the actual average pollution levels in this country.

[vidyanand]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

This is simply laughable!
Law will be applicable to only private cars which are anyway much above the actual average pollution levels in this country.

I agree with all your points. It means slightly more paperwork for those who already follow and have things in order (read PUC/Insurance).

At the same time it offers no advantage on actual emission and air quality with all those old lorries/buses and Cabs still plying on road.

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Why not have a law that "No fuel" without insurance (which is mandatory)?

I would be happy to show my Insurance every time I fuel up if this becomes a law.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Why not have a law that "No fuel" without insurance (which is mandatory)?

As far as PUC goes, everyone knows even a dog can get a PUC. In past PUC was obtained even for junked vehicles.

What is the point in doing this?
Filling Stations are there to dispense fuel, not to act like RTOs & MVIs.

Seriously, If this is implemented, people will be forced to wait for much longer time in the filling stations.
This 'document verification' process will lead to longer idling at filling stations and wastage of fuel.

Lastly, it is not that difficult to create a forged insurance printout, given the editing tools available today on the internet.

[aadya]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

This is simply laughable!

While I respect the intent, the route taken is a joke.

The IRDA has the data that 60% vehicles on Indian roads are completely uninsured and are therefore illegally plying. They have the names, the addresses but no intent to take an action against this illegality.

Why not have a law that "No fuel" without insurance (which is mandatory)?

As far as PUC goes, everyone knows even a dog can get a PUC. In past PUC was obtained even for junked vehicles.

PUC is nothing but a huge money making scam - I really doubt if the PUC thing really contributes even an iota towards pollution control.

All the thick smoke spewing vehicles belong to the categories where no road worthiness or any kind of proper paperwork exists.

Law will be applicable to only private cars which are anyway much above the actual average pollution levels in this country.

I think others understand Rodie09 comment in different vein. My inference is "making insurance mandatory and enforcing it" would be more important when compared to this order.

When such a large company like VW can cheat millions of customers and advanced countries with a PUC check fraud, its a cake walk for our Government transports, Water/Sand lorries etc.,

IMHO SC's intention is to give a starting point for a reform. Hope government does not link PUC/Fuel filling/Car ownership to AADHAAR

[Engine_Roars]

I just renewed my insurance online yesterday night which was also the last day of my previous insurance policy. The Insurance company portal did not ask me for any documents what so ever, the vehicle is 3 years old though and I have been getting the insurance done by HDFC Ergo. I got the policy document on my email with in a couple of minutes of making the payment, I love exactly this part - convenient & fast.

If they are to apply this law seriously, I wonder how are the Insurance companies going to accommodate the last minute requests of insurance renewals? The document will have to be scanned, sent to the insurance company, where they will verify the authenticity of the document(I don't know how) and then will issue the policy which I am sure can take anywhere between 7-10 days.

I totally am for PUC, the vehicles should adhere to the norms, no second doubt about it. The earth needs our compassion but I think there could be a better and simpler way to make this happen.

[ksameer1234]

While the thought itself is noble, what this does is link two things which majority of Indians don't give a hoot about. No one cares for PUC (at least in tier 2, 3 cities) and same for insurance.

What would make sense is to link these with vehicle registration such that at toll-booths, the captured vehicle information is used to verify these and then toll receipt can't be issued if insurance and PUC are not found in order. While it won't work for 2 wheelers, it will at least be a good starting point.

[Motard_Blr]

Consider this situation:

A vehicle has expired insurance for some reason. The vehicle also has an expired PUC certificate. If the owner wants to renew the insurance he must first get a puc certificate and in order to do that he must drive the vehicle on public roads to go to the using centre. Since the vehicle has no insurance, driving on public roads is illegal. This is a catch 22 situation!

As usual, rules imposed by the judiciary are poorly thought out and in many cases, have no possibility of appeal or exceptions. This is what happens when the judiciary creates laws instead of the legislature, whose job it is.

[hrman]

Is this applicable only for NCR? And the PIL was filed 32 years back, when the number of automobiles was perhaps 2-5% of what it is now. Wow. Talk about quick justice..

All in all, i think its not a practicable solution. Instead, why not make it mandatory for petrol pumps to deny petrol to two wheelers where the rider has not worn a helmet. Or deny fuel for four wheelers unless the occupants are belted up. These will improve the safety aspect of riders and road users as a whole.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

Consider this situation:

A vehicle has expired insurance for some reason. The vehicle also has an expired PUC certificate. If the owner wants to renew the insurance he must first get a puc certificate and in order to do that he must drive the vehicle on public roads to go to the using centre. Since the vehicle has no insurance, driving on public roads is illegal. This is a catch 22 situation!

As usual, rules imposed by the judiciary are poorly thought out and in many cases, have no possibility of appeal or exceptions. This is what happens when the judiciary creates laws instead of the legislature, whose job it is.

There is a way to exit the catch 22 situation you described:
- Put the car on a flat Bed & tow it to the nearest Emissions Center.
- Complete the Emission Test & get the certificate.
- Renew the Insurance online or from the Emission Center itself (Many Emission test centers are offering 5 min Insurance also).

[kutoos]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

Consider this situation:

This is a catch 22 situation!

There is no catch here. I own three vehicles it is a pain taking them to the PUC, hence during the days when I regularly used to get this certificate, I showed the expired PUC certificates and got new ones issued with the same emission norms.

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

As usual, rules imposed by the judiciary are poorly thought out and in many cases, have no possibility of appeal or exceptions. This is what happens when the judiciary creates laws instead of the legislature, whose job it is.

Bang On, as usual half baked policy implementation leads to added chaos.

The easier way would be to make it mandatory for the manufacturer to ensure that the emission norms are kept under check. Can we have this included a part of ever 10K or 1 Year service. All this information can be added to the RFID tag which comes with the vehicles these days, for a start, it will be good use of those RFID tags.

Cheers

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by kutoos

There is no catch here. I own three vehicles it is a pain taking them to the PUC, hence during the days when I regularly used to get this certificate, I showed the expired PUC certificates and got new ones issued with the same emission norms.
...

I don't know the system in Pune but in Bangalore the emission test centres are internet connected and automated. The operator's job is only to enter the vehicle registration number, stick the probe into the car and then point the camera at the number plate. If the test is passed, the certificate is printed automatically and an SMS is sent to the registered mobile number. While this system is not hard to game, it makes the task much more difficult and beyond the limited technical skills of the average operator.

[ghodlur]

It seems that Insurance cos take the Supreme court order passed in Aug 2017 very lightly which has forced the MORTH to reiterate the SC's verdict by asking the IRDA to rein in the Insurance co's and provide the emission reports by June 29 online. It waits to be seen if the Insurance co take any action going forward.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Tuesday directed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to ask all companies not to issue or renew insurance of vehicles without unless owners produce pollution under control (PUC) certificate.

The above would be effective only if the Insurance co do the emission test themselves which I think would not be feasible. If they were to make PUC mandatory for Insurance renewal, they would have to rely on the RTO to enforce the testing facilities themselves rather than outsourcing to private operators who as of now make a fast buck by providing PUC for a fee.

I personally think PUC is a means of identifying the bad signals in the vehicle but looking at the present system it is nothing but a joke.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/64376436.cms

http://www.india.com/news/india/dont...-irda-3081936/