India can's afford to fall back even by a day in introducing BS-VI norms, says SC

India cannot afford to fall back further even by a day in introducing the BS-VI emission norms as its pollution levels are "alarming" and it urgently needs to move to a cleaner fuel.

The top court, which said that no Bharat Stage-IV vehicle would be sold or registered in India from April 1, 2020, noted that Europe had introduced Euro-VI norms way back in 2015.

Bharat Stage standards are instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles and BS-IV norms had been enforced across the country from April 2017.

"Europe introduced Euro IV fuel in the year 2009 and Euro VI standards in 2015. We are already many years behind them. We cannot afford to fall back further even by a single day," said a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta.

The apex court's order came while deciding whether grace period should be given to the automobile manufacturers for the sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles after April 1, 2020.

Referring to the situation of pollution in the country, the bench said: "The pollution in Gwalior, Raipur and Allahabad is worse than Delhi. The situation is alarming and critical. It brooks no delay."
It said: "Even if we were to accept the figures submitted by SIAM, we are of the view that no step is too small when it comes to fighting pollution. Small steps to reduce pollution when taken together will lead to large scale reduction in pollution which will result in much cleaner air, which eventually will result in a cleaner and better environment, healthier citizens and most importantly a healthier generation to come."