SC bans sale of BSIII vehicles

The Supreme Court imposed a ban on sale of BSIII vehicles from April 01, 2017. Asking automobile companies to pave way for a smooth roll-out of Bharat Stage IV regulations in the country, according to industry sources, the apex court, during the hearing of a plea filed by automotive OEMs seeking permission to dispose 8.2 lakh BSIII vehicles in stock with them, said that public health was most important. The government counsel, claim industry sources, informed the court of the thousands of crores of expenditure the centre has made to upgrade fuel processing technology to make available BSIV fuel. BSIV regulations, the central government announced much earlier, will be implemented by mid-2017. The amicus curiae, assisting the court in the matter, is said to have urged the bench to ban manufacture and sale of BSIII vehicles since the Centre has spent Rs.18,000 to Rs.20,000 crore towards producing cleaner fuel. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), claim sources, submitted data on manufacturing and sale of BSIII vehicles on a monthly basis from January 2016 and told the court that companies were holding stock of around 8.24 lakh such vehicles, including 96,000 commercial vehicles, six-lakh two wheelers and 40,000 three-wheelers. The manufacturers also cited previous two exemptions granted when the switch to BSII and BSIII took place in 2005 and 2010 respectively.