The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that no Bharat Stage IV vehicle shall be sold across the country with effect from April 1, 2020. The decision will come as a major blow to the automotive industry which recorded huge losses in the last year after the SC banned the sale and registration of BS-III vehicles beyong March 2017. The government had asked automobile companies to production of such vehicles by that date.

The Bharat stage emission standards are standards instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles.

A three judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur made it clear that only BS VI compliant vehicle shall be sold in the country from that date. The bench said the need of the hour was to move to a cleaner fuel.

In 2016, the Centre had announced that the country would skip BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020.