Today, On 17th December, Delhi High Court slammed the government over poor regulation of used vehicle sales and transfers. Warning of grave security risks, the court asked, “Will you take a call when two, three more bomb blasts take place?”
The Delhi High Court criticized the Delhi government for its inability to effectively regulate the sale and transfer of used vehicles.
A Division Bench, consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, pointed out that a recent bomb blast at Red Fort was executed using a second-hand car, underscoring the urgency of the matter.
The Court remarked,
“A car changes four hands, but the original owner has not changed? Therefore, what happens? That man (original owner) goes to the slaughterhouse? What is this? How are you permitting this kind of… You will take a call when two, three more bomb blasts take place,”
The Court instructed the government to submit a comprehensive response, with the next hearing scheduled for January 2026.
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The Court added,
“Mr Delhi government, please file a counter affidavit. We will not grant any more dates,”
This hearing arose from a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an organization called Towards Happy Earth Foundation, which raised concerns about the implementation of Rules 55A to 55H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, established in December 2022 to oversee authorized dealers of registered vehicles.
While these rules aimed to ensure accountability in the second-hand vehicle market, the petitioner contended that ineffective regulations and procedural challenges have rendered them largely unhelpful.
The plea stated,
“The major gap in the amended framework is the absence of any statutory mechanism for reporting dealer-to-dealer transfers. In reality, most used vehicles pass through multiple dealers before reaching the final buyer, but the Rules only recognize the first transfer to the initial Authorised Dealer. As a result, the chain of custody breaks after the first step, defeating the very purpose of accountability. Because of these gaps, only a very small percentage of dealers across India have been able to obtain Authorised Dealer registration. In Delhi, none are registered. Consequently, lakhs of vehicles continue to circulate without any record of who is actually in possession of them,”
The PIL indicated that merely a small fraction of India’s estimated 30,000 to 40,000 used vehicle dealers are registered under the authorized dealer framework, with no dealers in Delhi having attained registration, according to the petitioner.
It also highlighted the recent terror incident near Red Fort involving an 11-year-old vehicle that had been sold multiple times but was still registered to its original owner.
Advocate Samar Bansal represented the petitioner, receiving support from advocates Vijay Kasana, Sanyam Khetarpal, Vaibhav Sharma, and Rahul Gupta.
Earlier, A powerful explosion took place near the Red Fort Metro Station in Delhi on the evening of November 10, 2025, killing at least eight people and injuring more than twenty others.
The blast occurred around 6:52 pm when a white Hyundai i20 car stopped at a traffic signal near Gate 1 of the metro station.
The explosion set the car ablaze and damaged several nearby vehicles, including auto-rickshaws, while shattering windows in the busy area near Chandni Chowk and the Red Fort. The incident caused panic among locals and tourists in one of Delhi’s most crowded zones.