Kerala High Court Gives Interim Relief To Diesel Carmakers

The Kerala High Court (HC) has provided some respite to diesel car makers. Just days after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) passed an order banning the registration of new diesel vehicles of 2,000cc and above in the southern state, the Kerala HC has put a stay on the order for two months.

The stay has been ordered by Justice P B Suresh Kumar who acted on a plea stating that the carmakers have not been given a chance to tell their version of the story. However the court did not interfere with the other part of the NGT order banning diesel vehicles older than ten years in the state.

The order from the NGT came in the backlash of the Supreme Court’s order banning the registration of new diesel vehicles of 2,000cc and above in the national capital. The apex court even cracked down on taxi vehicles in Delhi and has given them a deadline of 30 April 2016 to convert to CNG.

The carmakers have been giving terse responses to the restriction. Toyota recently lashed out at the order and Jaguar Land Rover even claimed that air in the national capital is far dirtier than what its vehicles emit. While the logic behind banning vehicles has been contented, we hope the Kerala HC takes a firm view of the scenario. Given the stringent norms in European nations these cars (from multinational companies) are able to comply with, we believe they will be able to do so in India as well in near time.