Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Commercial and passenger transport vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir that reach 25 years of age will no longer be permitted to operate, under a fresh directive from the Transport Department that effectively places such vehicles on a path to scrapping. Under the new rules, vehicles completing 25 years will not be eligible for fitness certification or renewal of route permits, ending their commercial use, while vehicles between 15 and 25 years old will now require fitness testing every six months instead of annually.
The directive touches a large section of the transport sector across the Union Territory, covering buses, minibuses, taxis, goods carriers and other passenger and commercial vehicles approaching the prescribed age limit. A 25 year ceiling is not entirely new to Jammu and Kashmir, which had earlier prescribed the same life limit before the government subsequently reduced the permissible age to 20 years for vehicles operating specifically in Jammu and Srinagar, while retaining 25 years elsewhere in the Union Territory. The latest order brings the broader 25 year ceiling back into sharper focus and raises fresh questions about how the phased withdrawal of ageing vehicles will be managed, particularly for small operators who may lack the capital to replace vehicles on short notice.
Transporters told this newspaper that the financial burden extends well beyond the loss of an ageing vehicle, since replacement involves substantial upfront expenditure alongside recurring financing, insurance and permit costs, all of which weigh heavily on individual operators. Transport bodies in J&K had previously opposed similar reductions when the government tightened the age limit in Jammu and Srinagar in 2022, citing the economic strain of retiring vehicles before they became commercially unviable.
The new twice yearly fitness requirement for vehicles between 15 and 25 years adds a further layer of compliance cost and inspection frequency for operators already navigating tighter margins. The policy also raises a practical question of disposal, since vehicles crossing the 25 year mark will have to be retired and routed through the authorised vehicle scrapping mechanism once permits lapse. For passengers, the effect could extend to fares and service availability if a significant number of older vehicles exit the fleet faster than replacement capacity can absorb, an outcome the Transport Department has not yet addressed with any announced financial assistance scheme for affected small operators.
