Parliament Question: Violation of Norms by PUC Centres

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. - 794 ANSWERED ON 23rd JULY, 2026 VIOLATION OF NORMS BY PUC CENTRES 794. SHRI ANOOP PRADHAN VALMIKI: Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware of the fact that most of the Pollution Under Control (PUC) centres are issuing PUC certificates without proper testing of the vehicles thereby issuing PUC certificates even to technically unfit and highly polluting vehicles and if so, the details thereof; (b) the total percentage of vehicles declared failed in pollution tests by the PUC centres during the last five years, year-wise; (c) the action taken against the centres for violating the norms or issuing PUC certificates without testing during the last five years; and (d) whether there is any plan to mandate real-time monitoring of the testing process and third- party audits at all PUC centres in the future so as to make this vital aspect of pollution control transparent and effective? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)(a) & (d) The operation of Pollution Under Control (PUC) centres fall under the purview of the respective State Governments / UTs, while the Government in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) formulates the rules. Further, for strengthening of the existing PUC framework, an amendment to AIS 137 (Part 8) has been made wherein it is proposed to enable tamper-resistant cryptographic signing of pollution data transmitted from PUC Centre to NIC Central Server. (b) As per data received from NIC, the number of vehicles declared failed in pollution tests by the PUC centres is as under: Year PUCC Issued PUCC Failed Percentage 2026 (Till 12th July, 2026) 46788720 465342 0.99 2025 86645718 1302666 1.50 2024 77814494 2100849 2.70 2023 72529879 550937 0.76 2022 64804632 488240 0.75 2021 54174503 297993 0.55 (c) Based on the inputs received from the NIC, the erring PUC centre(s) are identified and thereafter, the State Government(s) are advised to take appropriate action in this regard from time-to-time. *****