A division bench of the Calcutta High Court headed by Chief Justice S. S. Nijjar on July 18, 2008 converted an environment department’s notification into a judicial directive and directed the state government to phase out all two-stroke three-wheelers plying in the city by December 31, 2008 and to ensure that only four-stroke three-wheelers on clean fuel operate. All four-stroke threewheelers plying within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area have to convert to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by March 31, 2009 and those plying within the Kolkata Metropolitan Area by December 31, 2009. The city has around 38,000 registered two-stroke three-wheelers running on petrol. In addition, 30,000 illegal three-wheelers also operate in the city. Large numbers of three-wheelers use adulterated fuel popularly known as ‘katatel’ which comprises of petrol, kerosene and naptha, a toxic mix contributing significantly to the city’s air pollution. As per the directive, all two-stroke three-wheelers were supposed to be phased out by end of December. But this did not happen.