No More Sales Of BS4 Vehicles: SC

Top court questions FADA for violating its previous order that allowed the sale of limited BS4 vehicles

The official deadline for the sale and registration of vehicles that were only compliant with BS4 emission norms was March 31, 2020. After various appeals for extensions, the Supreme Court of India ruled on June 15, 2020, that no sale and registration of BS4 vehicles will be permitted anywhere in the country. "It is made clear that now no registration and sale of the BS-IV vehicles is permitted," the bench said in its order.

On March 27, the court had permitted the sale of 10 per cent of unsold BS4 inventory for 10 days after the March 25 lockdown restrictions were rolled back. As per the court’s orders, only 1.05 lakh BS4 vehicles were to be sold and registered during the extension. However, the apex court has found that its orders were violated and 2.25 lakh BS4 vehicles have been sold since then.

The Supreme Court has now directed the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) to furnish details of the sale of registration of vehicles by the end of this week. It has also asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to submit the details of BS4 vehicles sold and registered after the court’s March 27 order.

Even before the lockdown, FADA had appealed for an extension to sell BS4 vehicles till May 31 which was denied by the courts. "Our order is very clear that the manufacturers should have been ready because of the deadline set for BS-­VI compliant vehicles, there is no justification to extend the time which was fixed long back in the year 2018," the bench noted in its order.

Source: PTI