SC says April 1 is end of road for BS-III vehicles

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale and registration of Bharat Stage (BS)-III emission norm-complaint vehicles from April 1, saying the health of millions was more important than commercial interests.

The decision could deal a ~12,000-crore blow to auto manufactures as about 820,000 vehicles, most of them two-wheelers, are lying unsold.

India will switch to the more efficient and stringent BS-IV norms, already in place in some parts of the country, including Delhi, from April 1.

“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,” a bench of justice Madan B Lokur and justice Deepak Gupta said, rejecting the plea of automobile firms for time to dispose of BS-III vehicles.

The court, which has passed several orders to check pollution, said the manufacturers were aware that from April 1 they would be required to manufacture only BS-IV vehicles but they failed to take sufficient proactive steps.

The ruling came on a plea by the environment pollution con-

Now suddenly BSIII vehicles are banned. I find it quite frustrating that something like this has happened

VINOD DASARI, prez, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers

Health of people is far more important than commercial interests of the manufacturers or the loss that they are likely to suffer

MB LOKUR & DEEPAK GUPTA, Supreme Court judges

trol authority (Epca), which petitioned the court that only BS-IV vehicles should be sold in the market.

Most automobile companies except Bajaj opposed the plea.