The Supreme Court has approved a charge on light commercial vehicles and large trucks entering Delhi in a bid to improve pollution and chronic traffic in the city. NEW DELHI: Diesel-guzzling trucks and commercial vehicles in India will soon have to pay a surcharge for entering New Delhi, after the country’s top court Friday (Oct 9) approved a trial plan to improve the capital’s notoriously filthy air. Successive Delhi governments have been criticised for failing to curb pollution from industry and chronic traffic in the city of 17 million, ranked as having the world’s worst air quality by the World Health Organisation. Acting on a petitioner’s plea, the Supreme Court approved an extra charge of 700 rupees (US$11) on light commercial vehicles and 1,300 (US$20) rupees on large trucks entering Delhi. The court is scheduled to pass an official order Monday on the surcharge, which it said would apply for four months on an “experimental basis”, with no start date yet specified. Oil tankers, passenger buses, ambulances and trucks carrying some foodstuffs will not have to pay up, the court added. Many environmental activists welcomed the toll, saying it would help to clear the capital’s polluted air before winter starts,…