KATHMANDU, Nov 27: The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the Patan High Court’s verdict to ban 20 years or older public transport vehicles.
The High Court on November 1, 2023 had issued a verdict to ban old public vehicles from plying on the roads. After the federal government and the Bagmati Province Government stepped up efforts to implement the rule, a number of lawsuits were filed against the decision. According to the Department of Transport Management, over 5,500 vehicles aged more than 20 years are running on the roads of Nepal currently.
Patan High Court’s verdict was challenged in the Supreme Court. On November 8, 2024, the SC upheld the decision of the High Court of Patan, stating that there was no need to reconsider the ruling. As a result, the government's decision to remove public transport vehicles that are over 20 years old is now fully cleared for implementation.
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A writ petition was filed at the Patan High Court, seeking an order to halt the implementation of the decision to remove vehicles over 20 years old. In response, the joint bench of Judges Shyamji Pradhan and Chandra Mani Gyawali, on November 1, ruled that the writ petition should be dismissed.
On May 7, 2023, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Transport of Bagmati province issued a notice to implement the rules for mandatory scrapping of 20-year-old diesel/petrol vehicles and 30-year-old electric vehicles. The ministry had directed scrapping of all leased petroleum vehicles that have reached 20 years of age within 35 days. After the Ministry's notice, a case was filed in Patan High Court to halt the implementation of the decision.
In the year 2058 BS (2001/02), the government adopted a policy to remove passenger vehicles that were 20 years old from Kathmandu. In 2072 BS (2015/16), the government made a decision to compulsorily scrap public passenger vehicles that had reached 20 years of age. However, this policy was not implemented due to various obstacles.
In mid-January to Mid-February 2021, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of the federal government also decided not to register or renew the registration of passenger vehicles that had reached 20 years of age, and to directly scrap them. However, after business owners raised their concerns and drew the attention of the Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, announcing a phased protest against the decision, the matter did not progress further.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 5,000 people die in road accidents in Nepal every year. The use of old vehicles is considered to be one of the main causes of road accidents.
The specific age limit for private and government vehicles has not been specified. The government issued a notice in the Gazette on March 2, 2015 stating that vehicles older than 20 years would not be allowed to operate. Later, on September 13, 2017, another notice was published, which extended the age limit for electric vehicles by 10 years, making it 30 years.
