Big setback for carmakers, sale of Bharat Stage IV vehicles to be stopped; Supreme Court sets this deadline

The drive for a cleaner air quality has received a big boost today. The Supreme Court has said that no Bharat Stage IV vehicle shall be sold across the country with effect from April 1, 2020. The Bharat stage emission standards are standards instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles. The Bharat Stage VI (or BS-VI) emission norm would come into force from April 1, 2020 across the country.  The bench said the need of the hour was to move to a cleaner fuel. The BS IV norms have been in force across the country from April, 2017.   

In effect that means car makers will not be able to sell Bharat Stage IV vehicles from April 1, 2020, as the Supreme Court has so directed. From April 1, 2020, Bharat Stage VI (or BS-VI) emission norm would come into force. The Bharat stage emission standards was set by the government to regulate air pollution standards for vehicles.

This ruling came at time when many of the Indian cities are suffering prom worst kind of pollution problem. Taking this into cognizance, a three judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur today made it clear that only BS VI compliant vehicle shall be sold in the country from April 1, 2020. The bench took this stance after taking into consideration that it was need of the hour to move to a cleaner fuel.

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The Centre had enforced the BS IV norms in April 2017. Earlier in 2016, the Centre had announced that India would adopt BS-VI norms by 2020 and skip the BS-V norms altogether, according to a PTI report. The SC was deciding whether automobile manufacturers be given grace period for the sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles.

Advocate Aparajita Singh, who was assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, had opposed the government's move to give more time to automobile manufacturers. Automobile manufactures, however, opposed the move, saying that the government leapfrogged from BS-IV emission norms to BS-VI within a short span of time.