NGT asks oil cos to stop plying BS-I, BS-II vehicles in NCR

The National Green Tribunal directed public sector oil companies today to immediately stop plying Bharat Stage-I and Bharat Stage-II vehicles in the National Capital Region for transporting petrol or petroleum products.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar ordered Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum to immediately stop such vehicles from plying and directed the authorities not to renew their registration.
On the issue of BS-III vehicles, the green panel directed the managing directors of these companies and representatives of their contractors to hold a meeting and devise a plan to phase out BS-III vehicles.

The tribunal directed the Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Traffic) to ensure compliance with this order without default and delay.
"We direct that all the vehicles of these companies which are working under different contracts in Delhi-NCR and the diesel vehicles which are admittedly more than 10 years' old and are BS-I and BS-II compliant shall be withdrawn forthwith from the road. They shall not be plied at all in NCR, Delhi.
"The Managing Directors of all these companies shall be personally liable for compliance with this order," it said.

"As far as BS-III compliant vehicles run by contractors under the tenders are concerned, within two weeks from today, the Managing Directors of all the three companies along with representatives of the contractors shall hold a meeting and submit to the Tribunal a complete programme with regard to phasing out of all the diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years' old and are BS-III compliant," the NGT said.

The Supreme Court had yesterday refused to relax the ban on sale and registration of vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, in India from April 1 when the new emission norms come into force.
During the hearing at the NGT, the counsel for Bharat Petroleum told the bench that the contractors working under the company own 93 diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years' old which are are BS-III compliant.
Hindustan Petroleum told the NGT that the contractors working under the company own 99 diesel vehicles out of which 30 vehicles are BS-II compliant and 69 vehicles are BS-III compliant.

The counsel appearing for the Indian Oil Corporation informed the green panel that the contractors working under the company own 640 diesel vehicles out of which two vehicles are BS-I compliant, 622 vehicles are BS-II compliant and 16 vehicles are BS-III compliant.
The direction came while hearing a batch of petitions filed by various contractors seeking registration of new BS-IV compliant diesel vehicles purchased for transport of petrol from company depots to identified petrol pumps in Delhi-NCR.
The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted by the government to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.

These norms were introduced in India in 2000, when the Bharat Stage norms were adopted by the then government, based on the European emission norms. Each stage specifies a certain limit on the pollutants released, which is controlled by the type of fuel made by the oil companies and the upgradations and modifications made by the auto firms to their vehicles to control the pollutants released from the vehicle.