No sale or registration from April 1

About 8.2 lakh automobiles, including 96,000 commercial vehicles, over six lakh two-wheelers and around 40,000 three-wheelers manufactured by different companies in India will no more be sold, or even registered as a Supreme Court ban comes into effect on April 1.

These are vehicles, diesel and otherwise, which are not BS IV emission compliant. This is a stock which will have to be written off by the manufacturers, creating a massive loss in an already tight money market.

As the apex court on March 29, gave the order on the case (appellant MC Mehta) that concluded hearings on March 28, the worst fears of the automobile manufacturers came true.

As a last resort, the apex court bench of Justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta had asked the manufacturers whether it was possible to change the BS III-compliant automobiles to BS IV-compliant, and if so, how much it would cost?

The counsel for the manufacturers had said: “As far as cars and scooters are concerned, it cannot be converted from BS III to BS IV… It is not possible. Cost is secondary.”

That had virtually sealed the fate of such a large stock of vehicles.

On March 29, the bench commented: “Health of the people is far, far more important than the commercial interest of automobile manufactures.”

The BS III-compliant stock held had already been intimated to the apex court by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The manufacturers had also pleaded that they be allowed to sell their BS III stocks before the new norms were enforced.

—By India Legal Bureau