Odisha withdraws ‘no PUCC, no fuel’ rule after high court ruling | Bhubaneswar News

Odisha government has withdrawn its ‘no PUCC, no fuel’ rule for petrol pumps after the high court intervened. The court ruled that vehicles with pending traffic challans cannot be denied pollution certificates. The State Transport Authority must now issue a clarification and rectify its portal to ensure compliance with the court’s directive.

Cuttack: Odisha govt on Tuesday informed Orissa high court by way of an affidavit that it has withdrawn its directive instructing oil marketing companies to enforce a “no PUCC, no fuel” rule at retail outlets across the state.The decision comes after the govt, in a bid to curb vehicular pollution, had made a valid pollution under control certificate (PUCC) mandatory to obtain petrol and diesel from fuel stations. The state transport authority (STA) had issued the directive to this effect on Dec 20, 2025.The court was hearing a PIL filed by Bhubaneswar resident Snigdha Patra, who had challenged the legality of the directive.The affidavit was filed in response to a notice the court had issued on the PIL on Jan 6. During the hearing it was argued on behalf of STA that the authority had the power under Rule 167 (2) of Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, to deny PUCC to vehicles with pending compliance with challans issued for violation of traffic rules.However, the court rejected the claim and ruled that no such restriction is envisaged in the rules in connection with compliance with such challans.“Accordingly, the division bench, comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman, directed STA to issue a notification clarifying that PUCCs would be issued even in case of vehicles with pending compliance with challans,” petitioner counsel Ranjan Kumar Rout told TOI.“The bench further directed STA to make rectification in its Vahan portal to ensure that PUCC is not denied to vehicles with pending compliance with challans and directed to file an affidavit on the next date,” Patra said. The matter will be taken up next on Feb 3.While issuing the notification on Dec 20, the govt had maintained that plying a vehicle without a valid PUCC amounts to an offence and the measure was aimed at curbing vehicular pollution and protecting public health.In the notification, the STA had cited widespread non-compliance with emission norms, observing that a large number of vehicles were operating without valid PUCCs, thereby aggravating environmental pollution.