Health of people far more important than vehicles, says Supreme Court

Hyderabad: Plugging loopholes in the government’s decision to switch over to BS-IV emission norms for vehicles in the country, the Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale and registration of BS-III (Bharat Stage-III) compliant vehicles from April 1.

“We direct that on and from April 1, 2017, such vehicles that are not BS-IV compliant shall not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer, that is to say that such vehicle, whether two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers or commercial vehicles will not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer on and from April 1, 2017,” a bench comprising Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said. The detailed reasons for this order, the court said, would be given in due course.

Observing that health of the people is “far, far more important” than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the SC observed that automobile firms have declined to take “sufficient pro-active steps” despite being fully aware that they would be required to manufacture only BS-IV compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017.