Heavy and light commercial vehicles — including trucks, vans and dumpers — entering Delhi will now have to pay significantly higher Environment Compensation Charges (ECC) with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) issuing formal orders mandating a hike of up to 53% hike in the rates, senior officials said. Citing a Supreme Court court order, the civic body said that increased charges will act as a deterrent and disincentivize polluting vehicles from passing through the national capital.
Starting April 19, the ECC for light commercial vehicles and two-axle trucks has been increased from ₹1,400 to ₹2,000, while the charge for three-axle trucks and vehicles with four or more axles has gone up from ₹2,600 to ₹4,000, the civic body said in an order.
“The Supreme Court of India has passed an order in MC Mehta vs Union of India to enhance the ECC rate. Therefore in compliance with the order, Shahkar Global (private agency collecting toll) is hereby directed to comply both in letter and spirit regarding collection of ECC at enhanced rate with immediate effect,” said the order dated April 18 by deputy commissioner (toll tax), MCD.
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The apex court had cleared the proposal for hike on March 12 as it closed the 1985 MC Mehta case —the longest-running judicial intervention on urban air quality in the world.
Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) is a fee levied on commercial vehicles entering Delhi to mitigate air pollution. It was first imposed by the Supreme Court in 2015, acting on recommendations to address the city’s severe air quality issues. The charge is in addition to regular toll taxes and is aimed at discouraging polluting vehicles from entering Delhi and funding initiatives to improve public transport and pedestrian infrastructure.
A senior municipal official said that the increase in rates are primarily targeted to reduce pollution rather than a revenue generation exercise. “With such large financial cost, trucks will be forced to take eastern and western peripheral expressways. Currently, around 4,000-5,000 such trucks enter Delhi everyday which pay the ECC. Opening of the expressways, introduction of heavy CNG vehicles and rise in traffic has changed the conditions over the last 10 years,” the official added.
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The civic body is also likely to soon float the tenders for upgrading the toll collection on Delhi’s border points. “We are moving to the ANPR camera based toll collection system like highways so that vehicles do not have to stop at all. The process is in final stages,” official said. Under this project, MCD will install a barrier-free Multi-Lane Free Flow toll collection system integrated with RFID and Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology at all 126 toll collection points by October 2026.
Rajendra Kapoor, president of the All India Motor and Goods Transport Association, called the decision a “direct blow” to the transport industry.
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Kapoor said that while imposing a limited and rational fee on commercial vehicles merely passing through Delhi (transit traffic) might be understandable to some extent, placing this burden on vehicles that actively contribute to Delhi’s economic activities is unjustifiable.
“This decision will inevitably lead to increased transportation costs, the direct impact of which will be borne by the general public in the form of rising inflation. Such policies are being formulated in complete disregard of ground realities, at a time when the transport sector is already struggling under the weight of escalating operational costs, heavy tax burdens, and administrative complexities,” he said.