Supreme Court bans registration of BS-IV vehicles till further orders

New Delhi – Post deadline(1^st April 2020) issued towards the emission standard change over to Bharat stage(BS) VI from BSIV, arose major disruption in the registration of BSIV vehicles,  as vehicles lined up for registration before 31^st march 2020 couldn’t get registered / stocks which was planned for last minute clearance got held up  due to the covid induced lockdown during the months of march . There had been various representation on this subject seeking relaxations, stated on 08^th July 2020 to granted permission to sell the bsiv vehicles across India within 10 days from the date of release of the lock down as a move to compensate the locked-up period before the deadline of 31^st march 2020. However, it’s still yet to get enforced. Further FADA (Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations) representations has pleaded for more extension of selling of the BS IV complaint vehicles.

The dealers told the court that there were 1,05,000 two-wheelers, 2,250 passenger cars and 2,000 commercial vehicles which were sold but not registered. Dealers said the sale of some more vehicles could be concluded before the deadline, through online payment. The road tax and insurance premium for these can be paid online too.

Automobile dealers have around Rs 6,400 crore worth of BS-IV compliant vehicles with them. These include 700,000 two-wheelers, 15,000 passenger vehicles and 12,000 commercial vehicles.

          Other concerns being the procedure to register bsiv vehicles which is been sold earlier but failed to get registered before the deadline, currently being under the temporary registration plates. It is expected to have the final hearing on August 13th, 2020 to have clarity on all the above issues.

NOTE: The bench asked Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, to collect details from all the RTOs and furnish information about how many BS-IV vehicles were sold and registered after lifting of the lockdown.