SC bans sale of BS-III vehicles from Apr 1,Green bodies happy,

The Supreme Court today banned sale and registration of vehicles with the older BS-III emission norms from April 1, in a blow to auto firms saddled with a stock of over 8 lakh such vehicles valued up to an estimated Rs 20,000 crore.
Observing that health of the people is "far, far more important" than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the apex court observed that automobile firms have declined to take "sufficient pro-active steps" despite being fully aware that they would be required to manufacture only BS-IV compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017.
The court in its five-page order also prohibited registration of vehicles, which do not meet Bharat Stage-IV emission standards, from April 1 except on a proof that such a vehicle was sold on or before March 31.

Green bodies lauded the ban calling it an acknowledgment of the public health crisis and a step in the right direction towards fighting air pollution while the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) dubbed it as "frustrating". SIAM said the existing law allows sale of BS-III compliant vehicles and that this fact was ignored by the court.
The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
"We direct that on and from April 1, 2017, such vehicles that are not BS-IV compliant shall not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer, that is to say that such vehicles whether two wheeler, three wheeler, four wheeler or commercial vehicles will not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer on and from April 1, 2017," a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

"All the vehicle registering authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, are prohibited for registering such vehicles on and from April 1, 2017 that do not meet BS-IV emission standards, except on proof that such a vehicle has already been sold on or before March 31, 2017," the bench said adding detailed reasons for this order would be given in the due course.

The SIAM had earlier informed the apex court that companies were holding stock of around 8.24 lakh vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, including 96,000 commercial vehicles, over six lakh two-wheelers and around 40,000 three-wheelers.
"We all have to respect the Supreme Court verdict," SIAM President Vinod Dasari said.

According to industry estimates, the total value of the impacted vehicles is between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 crore.
Stating that as per government notification, sales of BS III vehicles were allowed after April 1, he said, "Now suddenly those BS III vehicles are banned. I find it quite frustrating that something like this happens."
Dasari warned of utter chaos in the next few days for the dealers and the finance companies which have sold BS III.
Environment experts said the transition is "critical", as the movement from BS-III to BS-IV could lead to substantial reduction in particulate matter emission.

"This is a significant step forward as this gives the message and the lesson that the automobile industry will have to walk the extra mile to address the expansive concern around public health and not weigh down the transition by taking a very narrow technical view," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
Noting that air pollution has already emerged as a serious public health crisis in the Delhi-NCR region as well as in rest of the country, the experts said the 2017 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report suggests India has the second highest number of early deaths due to particulate matter 2.5 in the world.

In its order, the bench accepted the submissions of the amicus curiae (an impartial adviser to a court) that permitting such vehicles to be sold or registered on or after April 1 would constitute a health hazard to the citizens by adding to the air pollution levels which were already quite alarming.
"On balance, in our opinion, the submission of the amicus deserves to be accepted keeping in mind the potential health hazard of such vehicles being introduced on the road affecting millions of our people in the country," it said.
"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," it said.

The bench also said, "Manufacturers of such vehicles were fully aware that eventually from April 1, 2017 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 proactive steps."
The court was dealing with the issue relating to the sale and registration of BS-III compliant vehicles which have been lying in stock with manufacturers and dealers, from April 1.
The manufacturers had argued that sale and registration of vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, should not be prohibited from April 1 and that they would not manufacture any vehicle not complying with BS-IV emission norms from April 1.

The firms had argued that they may be given a reasonable time to dispose of the existing stock of such vehicles.