The Supreme Court of India has banned all diesel-run taxis from operating in the country's capital New Delhi from May 1, 2016.

In the significant ruling, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, on Saturday, April 30 declined to further extend the deadline for all diesel cabs to be converted to run on the less-polluting CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) to curb air pollution.

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"We can't keep on extending the deadline. We are not extending it now and not going to make any concessions. There is a technology available, you can easily convert to LPG," the court said while declining a petition that this decision may impact the livelihood of poor drivers.

According to the Department of Transport, close to 60,000 taxis are listed in New Delhi, and about 27,000 are running on diesel. This decision will impact nearly 2 lakh commuters in Delhi, experts claim.

Delhi has over 5,071 radio-taxis, 3,435 economy radio taxis and 22,138 tourist taxis (or those with having all-India tourist permit). There are also about 12,000 odd vehicles registered under the 'rent-cab' scheme as local 'kaali-peeli (black-yellow)' taxis and 1,864 as 10-seater taxis.

Remarkably, the number of taxis in India's capital has been constantly rising in the past few years as demand for cab services increases. The number of taxis in 2010 was 57,958; rising to 69,780 in 2011 and reaching 70,335 in 2012-13. This number of taxis in New Delhi reached 79,606 in 2015.

Meanwhile, the court permitted the Delhi Police and Delhi water Board to continue operating their diesel vehicles but asked these two agencies to submit a plan to complete the conversion of all their diesel-run vehicle into CNG.

TagsIndia, CNG, diesel, Supreme Court of India