Delhi BS-VI Vehicle Ban: High Court Exempts Lawyers and Court Staff
Advocates and court staff from Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad can drive older cars to Delhi courts on working days, but the ban stays for everyone else.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Justice Amit Mahajan of the Delhi High Court on Friday, 6 November 2026, exempted advocates and court staff from the ban on non-Delhi-registered pre-BS-VI vehicles entering the capital. The order came on a petition by the Delhi High Court Bar Association, which said a blanket ban would stop lawyers living in the NCR from reaching courts. The exemption applies on court working days, according to the Business Standard report on the order.
Older Cars Allowed on Court Days
Lawyers and court staff who live in Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad and drive pre-BS-VI cars registered outside Delhi can now enter the city to reach courts. The exemption covers court working days only. Every other owner of a non-Delhi pre-BS-VI vehicle remains under the ban. Bar association president N Hariharan, a senior advocate, asked in court, “How can there be a blanket ban?”
A Ban That Runs Until 31 January
The Delhi government decided on 23 June to bar outside vehicles that do not meet BS-VI emission norms from entering the capital between 1 November and 31 January 2027, citing pollution. The bar association had earlier written to the Lieutenant Governor seeking relief, and the Supreme Court Bar Association made a similar request for advocates’ vehicles. For wider curbs now in force, see IPB’s report on Delhi’s pollution curbs from 1 November, and more Delhi High Court coverage.
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Separately, on 2 November a bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma declined to stay the ban and issued notice on a Faridabad lawyer’s challenge to the 23 June notification. That plea is listed again on 27 November.
Challenge to the Notification Continues
Friday’s order does not set the ban aside. It carves out one group. The wider challenge to the June notification stays pending before the Acting Chief Justice’s bench, with the next date on 27 November. The reports reviewed did not mention a separate hearing date on the exemption order.
Source: Based on reporting by Business Standard and ThePrint. No order PDF was found; searched LiveLaw and Bar & Bench.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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