The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave weightage to health concerns over commercial interests when it banned the sale and registration of Bharat Stage (BS) -- III type of vehicles across the country from April 1.

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A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta banned the sale and registration of vehicles that were not compliant with the BS IV emission norms. This move, which is seen as a major setback to automobile companies, will affect the sale of at least 8,24,275 two and three-wheelers and commercial vehicles valued at almost Rs 12,000 crore. BS IV compliant vehicles have been on roads in select cities since 2010, but, from April 1, the BS IV emission norms will be applicable to the entire country.

“The health of people is more important than commercial interest of manufacturers,” the Supreme Court bench said. The court accepted the submissions made by Harish Salve, the amicus curiae, who said that the continued sale of such vehicles would constitute a health hazard to millions of Indians by adding to the already alarming levels of air pollution in the country. The amicus curiae added that manufacturers were aware of the looming deadline in 2010 and had plenty of time to stop production and switch over to the new compliant norms of emission standards.

Hence, the amicus curiae said, there was no justification for any of the manufacturers for not switching to a safer standards. By not doing so they jeopardised the larger public interest and contributed to the potential health hazard to millions due to increased air pollution, it said.

The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) had analysed data on the existing stock of unsold vehicles that have been produced with Bharat Stage (BS) – III technology. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) submitted data to EPCA, and it showed that automobile companies continued to manufacture and even increased production of commercial vehicles between January and March. EPCA said this confirms that, “auto companies were not seen shifting to BS IV emission technology.”

For instance, Ashok Leyland produced 10,935 vehicles in January 2016 whereas in January 2017, it has produced 11,563 vehicles. Commercial vehicles release far more toxic emissions compared to other categories of vehicles.

In February 2016, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued a notification stating that BS IV emission norms will be applicable to all categories of vehicles from Apri 1, 2017, thus effectively stopping sale of BS III vehicles.

Further, the EPCA noted that while in its February 3 meeting, SIAM had informed that 75,000 commercial BS III vehicles were in stock, the latest figures show that the total unsold stock is 96,724. In the other vehicle categories, motorbike manufacturers and three-wheeler manufacturers are going to face a stiff task due to the high inventory of unsold stock, compared to that of four-wheelers. Even without accounting for Bajaj Auto, the unsold inventory of two-wheelers stands at 6.7 lakh bikes. That of three-wheelers stands at 40,048.

Representing the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that technically they were allowed to manufacture vehicles till March 31, 2017. Hence, they were not violating any norms. Singhvi told the bench that the manufacturing companies were committed to follow the emission norms and had partially switched over to making BS-IV compliant vehicles. In the mean while, Singhvi prayed for an extension to dispose of the existing stocks which, he said, could be done in the next seven-eight months.

“We are companies of reputation. Don’t portray us as a villain. We are not running away. We also want that our environment should be pollution free and we are saying we will comply with the directions. The process should be a gradual one,” Singhvi said.

Senior lawyer Shyam Diwan, representing Bajaj Auto, supported the idea of the ban and submitted that no extension must be given.

Representing the Union, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar had submitted that the government had spent almost Rs 30,000 crore to produce a “much cleaner fuel” that was BS - IV compliant and would be made available from April 1.