Calling their bluff

Automobile makers must honour environmental norms

The Supreme Court’s verdict last week that the sale of vehicles meeting Bharat Stage-III (BS-III) emission norms won’t be allowed from April 1 caught the industry on the wrong foot. The industry had been asking for an extension of the April 1 deadline on the pretext that it was stuck with more than 800,000 vehicles — mostly two-wheelers and three-wheelers — but almost 100,000 commercial vehicles as well. But the two-judge bench that heard the matter struck down the extension plea as it felt the “health of the people is far, far more important than the commercial interests of the