SC: No sale of BS-III vehicles from April 1

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 29

The Supreme Court today banned the sale and registration of Bharat Stage-III emission norm-compliant vehicles from April 1, the date fixed for BS-IV emission norms to come into effect.

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A Bench headed by Justice MB Lokur rejected the plea of automobile companies to give them reasonable time to dispose of over eight lakh BS-III vehicles lying in their factories and showrooms.

It is estimated that companies have a stock of 8.2 lakh BS-III vehicles: 96,724 commercial ones, 6,71,308 two-wheelers, 40,048 three-wheelers and 16,198 cars.

“The number of such vehicles may be small compared to the overall number of vehicles in the country but the health of the people is far, far more important than the commercial interests of the manufacturers or the loss that they are likely to suffer in respect of the so-called small number of such vehicles,” the Bench said.

It said: “The manufacturers of such vehicles were fully aware that eventually, from April 1, they would be required to manufacture only BS-IV compliant vehicles but for reasons that are not clear, they chose to sit back and declined to take sufficient pro-active steps.”

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The Bench took note of Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar’s submission that quality fuel for BS-IV compliant vehicles would be available across India from April 1.

As the news of the ban broke, shares of many automobile companies nosedived.

The verdict came on the Environment Pollution Control Authority’s plea seeking a ban on the sale and registration of BS-III compliant vehicles after April 1. BS-III and BS-IV emission norms were implemented in India in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Hero MotoCorp and Tata had contended that the cut-off date was meant for stopping the manufacturing of BS-III compliant vehicles and it did not mean sale and registration. To buttress their point, they had said it happened so during the transition from BS-II to BS-III.

The Centre had supported their contention, saying EPCA should have approached it for a clarification on its statutory rules related to the deadline for the all-India rollout of BS-IV.

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The top court accepted the arguments of amicus curiae Harish Salve and Aprajita Singh for banning BS-III vehicles, “keeping in mind the potential health hazard”.

Bajaj Auto had supported the ban on the sale of BS-III vehicles, saying it had invested a lot in technology upgradation to meet the requirements of BS-IV emission norms. SIAM and certain individual carmakers wanted the court to relax the deadline. 

The automobile companies said they were entitled to make such vehicles till March 31 and in doing so did not violate any law and accordingly, the sale and registration of such vehicles on and from April 1 ought not to be prohibited. But the court dismissed their plea.