No manipulation of PUC countrywide from April

While this has become the norm in Delhi from June this year, the road transport ministry has directed Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to roll out the scheme from the current month. All other states will be covered from April 2019, circular issued by the ministry said.

“There were enough apprehensions that the systems are tweaked at PUC testing centres to get favourable emission data so that vehicles get a PUC. In almost all cases, the enforcement agencies have no option than believing the PUC certificate that the vehicle owner/ driver provides at the vehicle owner/ driver provides at the time of checking. Under the system, the officers with hand-held devices for issuing e-challan can see the actual emission details as captured at the time of the vehicle underwent test. They can take action if they find the details of emission are different on the hard copy of PUC certificate and what is available online,” said an official.

The ministry has issued the guidelines based on a Supreme Court order detailing what all they need to put in place at every PUC centre for seamless uploading of emission details.

While experts in this field have welcomed the government move to put some check on the polluting vehicles, they have flagged concern over the effectiveness of the initiative. What we need is real and random pollution check of vehicles that are on the move. The officers with hand-held device can only check emission details captured during the PUC test and the certificate is valid for six months. There are ample chances that if a vehicle engine is not maintained properly, the emission level will increase. So, you have to carry out real-time tests on the road,” said an official of a state transport department.