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Auto dealers are selling BS III cars in bulk to get around ban: EPCA

According to EPCA the car dealers are selling the cars in bulk to their families just to get them registered so that they can be sold to customers later.

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The Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) observed that auto dealers were resorting to "fake sales" of BS-III models to circumvent the ban on their registration from April 1.

The issue came up during a meeting of the Supreme Court-appointed body involving officials of Delhi and NCR states and representatives of the auto industry.

"Dealers are selling BS-III vehicles to their relatives in bulk. Basically these fake sales are being done to ensure that they can be registered when they are resold to customers," an EPCA member said.

However, the state governments assured the panel that circumventing the ban was difficult and that the existing registration mechanism was "nearly foolproof".

The Delhi government's Transport Department, in an order issued on Thursday, asked the registering authorities and MLOs (motor licensing officers) to not register any vehicle which does not meet BS-IV standards.

"In case a vehicle is claimed to have been sold before April 1, the authorities shall obtain proof of that sale and will personally satisfy themselves about the correctness of that proof," the order says.

The registering authorities have also been asked to obtain details including chassis and engine numbers, type, model and name of vehicle, invoice number, details of payment made up to March 31; and address, details of PAN and Aadhaar card of the purchasers.

Any violation will lead to legal action, including cancellation of trade certificate against the dealer. The dealer concerned shall also be held liable of contempt of the Supreme Court, it said.

An Uttar Pradesh government official said, "Currently, after purchase of each vehicle, sales tax has to be paid and that has to be registered online. So in case of BS-III vehicles sold till March 31, the regional transport authorities will check whether tax was paid before registering it."

Delhi claimed it has a similar mechanism in place. Haryana, which does not have any online mechanism, also assured the EPCA it would not allow any dodging of norms.

The EPCA also said the auto manufacturers will have to apprise the Supreme Court on what they have done to their BS-III inventories, which the industry claims stands at around 8 lakh.

The states were asked to submit a report on the registration done on or after April 1.

To exhaust their stock, two-wheeler majors are offering discounts of up to Rs 22,000 to sell as many units as possible before the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court comes into force.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had earlier informed the apex court that the companies were holding stock of around 8.24 lakh vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, including 96,000 commercial vehicles, over six lakh two-wheelers and around 40,000 three-wheelers.

According to industry estimates, the total value of the impacted vehicles is between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 crore.
 

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