Sale of BS-III vehicles banned from April 1

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court banned on Wednesday the registration and sale of vehicles with the older BS-III emission norms after April 1, saying the health of millions was more important than commercial interests.

A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta prohibited registration of any vehicles, which do not meet the Bharat Stage-IV emission norm standards from April 1.

The ruling came on a plea by the Environment Pollution Control Authority.

The order is expected to impact around 8 lakh BS-III compliant vehicles that are ready for sale. These vehicles — two-wheelers, cars and trucks — are lying in various carmakers’ factories and showrooms across the country.

The top court had on Tuesday reserved its verdict on pleas seeking ban on the sale and registration of BS-III compliant vehicles after April 1.

The newer and more stringent BS-IV norms were introduced in phases from 2010 and a nationwide rollout is expected next month.

EPCA says the objective behind having a cleaner fuel technology would not be achieved if older vehicles continue to flood the market.

Automobile companies, except Bajaj, had opposed the EPCA’s plea, which demanded only BS-IV compliant vehicles be sold in the market.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had earlier submitted data on manufacturing and sale of BS-III vehicles on a monthly basis from January 2016 and told the court that the companies were holding stock of around 8.24 lakh such vehicles, including 96,000 commercial vehicles, over six lakh twowheelers and around 40,000 three-wheelers.