Supreme Court Allows Registration Of BS-IV Vehicles' Sale Uploaded On E-Vahan Portal Before March 31, 2020

Registration of BS IV Vehicles Sold Prior To 31 March 2020

The Bench also permitted the registration of BS-IV vehicles which were sold prior to 31.03.2020 without insisting on the transactions being uploaded on e-Vahan portal in Manipur.

The direction has been passed after perusing applications filed seeking a direction to the authorities of the State of Manipur to register BS-IV vehicles sold before 31.03.2020 whose registrations are not done.

The applicants submitted that the e-Vahan portal was started only on 28.09.2020 and one of the conditions for registration of BS-IV vehicles which were sold prior to 31.03.2020 is registration of sales on e-Vahan portal.

The Bench accordingly directed the concerned authorities of the transport department of the State of Manipur to do a careful scrutiny to find out that the transactions are genuine and the sales were done prior to 31.03.2020.

In an application filed by the Transport Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, the Bench has clarified that all vehicles sold between 27th March 2020 to 31st March 2020 shall be registered provided the transactions have been uploaded on E-Vaahan Portal and the temporary or permanent registration was granted before the cut off date i.e. 31.03.2020.

Registration Of BS-III compliant Oxytrucks To Supply Oxygen To Hospitals:

The Bench also made an exception for 4 BS-III compliant Oxytrucks and allowed its registration after the Amicus Curiae submits that Oxytrucks were donated by Raytheon Technologies, Germany and they have been put to good use when the country was gasping for breath during the covid period.

The Bench allowed the application been filed by the State of Haryana seeking permission to register Euro III Compliant Oxytrucks to cater to the need of oxygen at different hospitals and directed the Transport Authorities to register the four Oxytrucks.

Import Of Calcinated Pet Coke:

The Bench has asked for the Commission for Air Quality Management's response to applications filed seeking permission to import calcinated pet coke for industries in addition to the quantity fixed by the Supreme Court.

The top Court through its order dated 09.10.2018 had fixed a cap of 0.5 MT per annum on the total quantity of pet coke to be imported.

The Bench has directed the Commission for Air Quality Management to submit a report within four weeks, regarding the impact on environment if these applications are allowed.

Background:

Supreme Court through its order on 13th August 2020 had granted a limited relief with respect to the registration of BS-IV vehicles, by allowing the registration of such vehicles which whose sale took place before March 31st but which could not be registered during lockdown in the month of March, 2020.

"There are still stated to be a large number of sales which have been made and uploaded on the E-Vaahan Portal, even temporary registrations were made. Their registration during the lockdown period could not be made. Hence, we allow registration of such vehicles only which could not be registered during lockdown in the month of March, 2020 and for no other reason", ordered a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court had clarified that the Order for allowing registration applied to the entire country, but not Delhi-NCR. It had been categorically laid down that there will be absolutely no registration of BS-IV vehicles in Delhi-NCR post-March 31, 2020.

The Court elaborated that it had allowed registration of BS IV vehicles which had been sold in Indian before the nationwide lockdown, but could not be properly registered, as per procedure, due to the same.

It was made amply clear that this relaxation in registration was being allowed only because of the lockdown and must not to be construed in any other way or used for any other purpose, or for the registration of any other vehicle which was not done due to other reasons.

On July 31, the Court had recalled its March 27 order which allowed sale of 10% of unsold BS-IV vehicles for ten days after the lockdown, in areas except Delhi-NCR, after noting that the automobile dealers sold such vehicles during the lockdown in violation of the order.

Following the recall of the order, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra held that such vehicles sold during lockdown should not be treated as sold, and that the consideration received should be refunded to the purchasers. The Court also ordered that no such vehicle sold after March 31 should be registered.

"...the vehicles shall be treated to be with dealers as if they are not sold and consideration if any received shall be returned forthwith to the purchasers, no such vehicles sold after 31.03.2020 of BS-IV technology shall be registered", the bench had ordered then

In July, Supreme Court also took exception to FADA's request to allow dealers to return unsold inventory to the manufacturers so that they could be exported to other countries.

To put this in context, it must be noted that on March 27, the Top Court had permitted the sale of 10 per cent of unsold BS-IV vehicles to make up for six days lost due to the nationwide lockdown. However, on July 8, this Order was recalled on account of misuse of the Order, whereby more vehicles were sold than was permissible.

As this was brought to the Court's notice, the Order was recalled, following which registration was banned on July 31.

Citation : LL 2021 SC 699

Click here to read/download the order