While observing that attendance of Advocates and the Court staff is of utmost importance for the smooth functioning of the Court, the Delhi High Court has granted exemption to NCR based lawyers and staff from the restrictions imposed on car travel due to pollution.

The Petitioner approached the High Court aggrieved by the fact that Advocates and Court Staff, who are residents of NCR but not residents of NCT of Delhi, and their vehicles are not registered in the NCT of Delhi, are not permitted to use their vehicles for coming to the Courts from November 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027, pursuant to the Notification dated June 23, 2026.

The Single Bench of Justice Amit Mahajan stated, “Once the Courts are functional, the Advocates and the Court staff’s attendance is, undoubtedly, of utmost importance for the smooth functioning of the Court and they cannot be directed to not ply their vehicles.”

“Considering the difficulty expressed by the petitioner, the cars of Advocates and Court staff, which are holding a valid parking sticker of any of the Bar Associations in Delhi, are permitted to travel to and from Delhi, during Court working days, from 01.11.2026 to 31.01.2027 on producing a valid identity card”, it ordered.

Senior Advocate N. Hariharan represented the Petitioner, while Central Govt Standing Counsel Pratima N. Lakra represented the Respondent.

Arguments

The petitioner submitted that the Advocates perform duties of the Court and their vehicles should be exempted from the said notification.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the respondents had provided an exemption to the class of persons performing sovereign and essential duties. “Prima facie, in the opinion of this Court, the function of assisting the Court for discharge of judicial work is also an essential duty and at times, can be emergent in nature as well”, it added.

The Bench also considered that the respondents had not been able to explain how the same vehicles, which were not contributing to pollution until October, were suddenly considered major contributors to pollution.

Holding that the Advocates and the Court staff cannot be directed not to ply their vehicles, the Bench ordered that the cars of Advocates and Court staff, which are holding a valid parking sticker of any of the Bar Associations in Delhi, can travel to and from Delhi from November 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027 on producing a valid identity card.

Cause Title: Delhi High Court Bar Association (Through Its Honorary Secretary) v. Union Of India (Case No.: W.P.(C) 16793/2026)

Appearance

Petitioner: Senior Advocates N. Hariharan, Rakesh Tiku, Prem Lata Bansal, Advocates Vikram Singh Panwar, Kanika Singh, Kunal Malhotra, B.S. Dhir, Kajal Chandra, Vidhi Gupta, Amit Choudhary, Chandrika Gupta, Shrey Sharawat, Nitesh Mehra, Lakshy Kaushik, Amaan Shreyas, Mannat Tipnis, Punya Rekha Angara, Aman Akhtar, Amartya Khanjilal, Arjan Singh Mandla, Vasundhara Raj Tyagi, Apoorv Kumar, Monu, Jai Girdhar and Shreyangana Bag

Respondent: Central Govt Standing Counsel Pratima N. Lakra, Govt Pleader Sarvesh P. Shrivastava, Santha Smruthi, Shailendra Kumar Mishra, Standing Counsel Sanjay Vashishta, Advocate Siddhartha Goswami

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Delhi High CourtJustice Amit Mahajan

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.