BERLIN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Environmental Action Germany (DUH) is suing 10 German cities for failing to take action in the diesel emissions scandal, bringing the case before the administrative court in the western city of Dusseldorf, the German Press Agency (DPA) reported Saturday.

The first 10 charges will be heard starting Wednesday. The NGO is demanding that the official vehicle licensing centers take cars off the road that have been found to contain emissions-cheating software.

The other cities targeted by the legal action are Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Mainz, Munich, Stuttgart and Wiesbaden.

The scandal first came to light in September 2015, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused Volkswagen of installing software in diesel vehicles to fudge the output of toxic nitrogen oxides on emissions testing.

Since admitting to the cheating scheme, Volkswagen has been forced to pay some 24 billion dollars in settlements and damages, including a 2.8-billion-U.S.-dollar criminal fine.

In November, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to provide municipal leaders with more than the already-promised 1 billion euros (1.22 billion U.S. dollars) as part of a bid by the government and the auto industry to counteract the effects of the diesel emissions.

The DUH will argue before the court that all Volkswagen vehicles with type EA 189 EU5 engines should have been taken off the road. The various vehicle licensing centers had failed to withdraw the operating licenses of the vehicles concerned, the DUH lawyers are to argue, according to DPA.

"Through this legal action, we aim to ensure that the air quality in these cities is not harmed further as a result of the continued operation of the Volkswagen company's cheat diesel," DUH chief executive Juergen Resch said.