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BS-4 vehicle sales: Apex court slams FADA, says no registration of BS-IV vehicles after March 31
In a setback for automobile dealers and customers, on Wednesday the Supreme Court recalled its March 27 order that allowed dealers to sell 10% of the unsold BS-IV vehicles over 10 days after the March 31 deadline across the country, except in Delhi-NCR, after lifting of COVID-19 induced lockdown.
The Supreme Court said automobile dealers violated its directives and BS-IV vehicles were sold during the lockdown in the last week of March & after March 31 also.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, S A Nazeer & Indira Banerjee, while hearing the matter through video-conferencing slammed Fada for flouting its directions by exceeding the limit of 1.25 lakh vehicles which were supposed to be sold during the 10-day grace period. “Do not take advantage of playing fraud. You have told us no sales have taken place. No vehicle could be registered without our order. No registration. You have sold more than allowed. You did not follow our order” Justice Mishra told Fada senior counsel KV Vishwanathan.
On March 27, the SC had said it was permitting the sale of 10% of unsold BS-IV vehicles to make up for 6 days lost due to the nationwide lockdown which was imposed on March 25.
the SC on Wednesday said that Bharat Stage (BS)-IV vehicles sold after March 31 this year will not be presently registered.
The sale of BS-IV vehicles had increased in the last week of March when the nationwide lockdown was in force, & they were sold online also, observed by the court.
Senior Lawyer Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the Apex Court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said the court has recalled its March 27 order.
The bench observed during the hearing, that the automobile dealers association, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations(FADA) have not adhered its earlier order & they have violated the directives of the Supreme court.
The association's counsel referred to an earlier order & argued that the court had said if BS-IV vehicle is sold before March 31, then registration would be done.
To this, the bench asked how dealers have sold these vehicles during the lockdown period in March.
It observed that details of more than 17,000 vehicles have not been uploaded on the e-Vahan portal of the Government of India.
The SC in Oct 2018 said no BS-IV vehicle would be sold or registered in India from April 1, 2020.
In 2016, the Centre had also announced that India would skip the BS-V norms & adopt BS-VI by 2020. BS emission norms are standards instituted by the Govt to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles.
A livid SC had noted that as per the compliance affidavit filed regarding its March 27 order, more than 2,25,000 vehicles were waiting for registration as on March 31 & this surpassed the figure which it had specified.
In March this year, the apex court was informed about the unsold inventory of BS-IV vehicles -- around seven lakh two-wheelers, 15,000 passenger cars & 12,000 commercial vehicles.
Taking a strong stand, the apex court said only those vehicles sold within the stipulated deadline and also registered and whose details have been uploaded on the government’s e-portal Vahan would be valid. The ones sold but not yet registered would be considered invalid. The court’s ire was over the fact that dealers have sold more than the stipulated 10% allowed by it.
