Madras HC moved for registering BS-III vehicles bought before

A petition has been moved in the Madras High Court for registering BS-III vehicles purchased before the Supreme Court ban on them came into force but could not be registered due to 'extraneous' reasons.
Justice K Ravichandrabaabu issued notice to the Tamil Nadu transport department seeking its response when the petition by a resident of Katpadi in Vellore district came up for hearing today.
The petitioner submitted that though she bought a BS-III car on March 31 and took insurance cover on the same date, the registration of the vehicle was not done.
The judge, who also issued notice to Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Ltd, posted the matter after summer vacation.

Counsel for petitioner Shanthi submitted that she and thousands of others had purchased the BS-III vehicles and taken insurance before the March 31 deadline.
He contended that the transport authorities were bound to register the vehicles purchased before the apex court's deadline, but they declined to register them.

The counsel submitted that the Kerala High Court had directed the authorities to register vehicles purchased and having certificate of insurance issued by authorised companies on or before March 31.
Besides, the Odisha government had also issued a similar directive to its officials, he claimed.
The Supreme Court had on March 29 banned from April 1 sale and registration of vehicles, which are not compliant with BS-IV emission norms, holding that health of people is "far, far more important than the commercial interests of the manufacturers".

Seeking to cut their losses, vehicle companies and dealers offered BS-III vehicles at highly discounted prices in the three days up to March 31 and these were lapped up by thousands of people.
The petitioner said she bought the car for Rs 6.11 lakh and the entire amount was paid through bank transaction. She had taken insurance from Cholamandalam MS General Insurance on March 31.
Once the insurance premium was paid to the authorised insurer under Section 20 of the Sale of Goods Act, and property delivered to the petitioner, the sale was complete, she said seeking a direction from the court to authorities to register the vehicle.