Only BS-VI Capable Vehicles Will Be Manufactured And Sold In India After March 31, 2020

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that BS -IV vehicles will not be sold after March 31, 2020 when the BS-VI norm for cleaner fuel comes into force.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta turned down the plea of Centre and automobile manufacturers association requesting the Court to allow the companies to sell the vehicles of BS -IV vehicles manufactured before the deadline. They contended that automobile companies should be allowed to exhaust the stock of BS-IV vehicles even after March 31, 2020.

AFP

The automobile companies had assured that they would stop manufacturing BS-IV vehicles before the deadline but they should be give Grace period of six months to sell the stocks. the court, however, rejecting the plea and said that manufacturing as well as sale of BS-IV will not be allowed.

Earlier, petroleum and environment ministries have taken a contradictory stand before the Supreme Court on banning sale of non-BS-VI-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2020, the date by which the cleaner fuel will be made available across the country.

In an affidavit, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas contended that not only manufacturing but even sale of BS-VI non-compliant or lower vintage vehicles be banned from April 2020 to realise full benefit of the cleaner fuel.

AFP

This stand, however, is contradictory to the submission of ministry of environment and forests which has consistently taken a stand that automobile companies should be allowed to sell their inventory of BS-IV vehicles till the end of June 2020 for two-wheelers and up to September for four-wheelers.

¡°The Public Sector Oil Marketing companies are investing approximately Rs 28,000 crore for upgradation of refineries for supply of BS-VI fuels. This investment is being made to upgrade the fuel quality for better environment. The environmental benefits of BS-VI fuels are only marginal if it is used in BS-IV or lower vintage vehicles. If sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles is allowed after April 1, 2020, the environmental benefits in terms of reduction in particulate matter emission is only marginal in spite of huge public investment. Hence, sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles should not be allowed after March 31, 2020,¡± the petroleum ministry said.

It even hinted the cut-off date to stop manufacturing of BS-IV vehicle should be advanced to ensure such vehicles are not sold after March 31, 2020.

The environment ministry had earlier told the apex court that manufacturing of BS-IV vehicles be banned and not their sale after BS-VI norms kick in to allow auto manufactures to exhaust their stocks.

AFP

¡°If the date of shift to BSVI becomes date of registration then it would actually reduce the time available to industry for manufacturing to a mere two years or so although BS-VI fuel will not be available across the country till April 1, 2020 ... It may also be difficult to have zero stock of BS-IV with dealers on March 31, 2020 as sales cannot be predicted in advance,¡± the ministry¡¯s affidavit said.

Advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the court as amich ciriae contended that people are dying of pollution and there was no need to give grace period to auto-makers to sell BS-IV vehicles beyond March 31, 2020.

The advocate, appearing for manufacturers, said the companies will have to switch over to BS-VI vehicles from December, 2019 which would be a difficult task.

Holding that the health of millions of people was more important, the apex court had in March last year dismissed the plea of automakers to allow them to dispose of existing stocks of BS-III vehicles.