"Which Authority Should People Approach For Registration Of BS-IV And BS-VI Vehicles ?" Supreme Court Seeks Clarity

Supreme Court on Friday posed a question as to which authority should it refer the applications seeking registration vehicles to.

A three-judge Bench of CJI Bobde, Justice Bopanna and Justice Ramasubramanian was hearing applications filed in the case of MC Mehta vs Union of India, seeking the registration of CNG vehicles, BS-IV compliant vehicles and BS-VI compliant vehicles being used for essential public utility services.

The question was posed after Senior Advocate Adv Sanjiv Sen appearing for the Delhi Municipal Corporation informed the Court that 200 similar applications for registration of vehicles are pending before the Registry, and the Court is unnecessarily being burdened.The Bench sought details of those applications so it could hear and decide them.

During the hearing CJI Bobde inquired if the Environment Pollution Control Authority is still in existence. In absence of the Amicus Curiae AND Rao, ASG Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Road Transport and Highway Ministry informed the Court that EPCA is not in existence.

"Who do we send these applications to?" CJI asked. "We can do it. We will do the due diligence and submit the report. We have already done that for 14 vehicles wherever applications were served to us" ASG Bhati said.

"We want you to tell us which authority, and located where and accessible in which manner can do this, so we can pass directions that all these people seeking registration of their vehicles can go there" CJI said.

Bhati submitted that it needs to be ascertained if it is for e- vahans or not. She added that as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is custodian of e vahans, the Ministry's Secretary may be directed"

Supreme Court on Friday accepted the compliance affidavit filed by Delhi Police for purchase of BS-IV vehicles, in pursuance of the Court's previous directions.

During the hearing, ASG Bhati informed the Court that a Compliance affidavit has been filed by Delhi police. The top Court had previously permitted them to buy these vehicles and asked them affidavit to file in 7 days. "These are BS-VI vehicles?" CJI asked "These are BS-IV vehicles which are not available in BS-VI variants . Please accept the affidavit" Bhati said

The Court had disposed of the application by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Prov. & Logistics) by an Order dated 19th June 2020 directing him to file an affidavit containing details such as the Engine Number, Chassis number etc. of all the vehicles.

Pursuant to the said direction, the Deputy Commissioner of police, pursuant to the direction filed an affidavit on 25.03.3021, which has been taken on record by the Court.

ASG Bhati submitted before the Court there is no reason for scrutiny of CNG and BS6 vehicles, and scrutiny is only required for BS-4 vehicles, to see if they were registered before march 2020 cut off date.

Senior Counsel Sen agreed with ASG Bhati and added that BS- IV CNG vehicles have to be allowed, and only BS-IV diesel vehicles need scrutiny.

The Bench also asked one of the Applicants to approach approach the Allahabad High Court with their application. "Its been a year." the Counsel said. "I don't know what arguments we have to hear. We are telling you which HC to go to you are telling us a year has gone." CJI remarked. The Court has allowed registration of the following vehicles on Friday:

Application by North Delhi Municipal Corporation: NDMC filed an application seeking to register 2 numbers of CNG BS-IV Tata Trucks with water tankers and 46 CNG BS-IV Auto tippers. The Court allowed the application, as these vehicles are to be put to use for public utility services.

Application by East Delhi Municipal Corporation: The application was filed seeking the registration of 20 numbers of Hook Loaders BS-VI Chassis commercial vehicles.

These vehicles have hydraulically operated lifts used for loading containers into trucks and are used by the Corporation to transfer garbage and waste to landfill sites and to help in solid waste management. The Court allowed the registration of these vehicles as they are to be put to use for public utility services.

Applications by a private individuals: These applications were filed seeking impleadment and registration of a Maruti Vitara Brezza VDI BS-IV vehicle, allegedly purchased on the occasion of the wedding of the applicant's son.

The Court has asked Amicus Curiae A.D.N. Rao to verify whether the applications can be considered here or the applicant should be permitted to move the Allahabad High Court, as the Transport Authority of the State of Uttar Pradesh has already refused registration.

The Court has also asked the amicus to look into another application filed seeking direction to the concerned transport officer at Mathura to register a BS-IV diesel car, which he purchased in February, 2020 and was granted temporary registration on 16th March 2020.

Applications by Delhi Fire Service: The applications were filed for impleadment and for directing the Transport Department to register 30 fire units (BS-IV) claim to have been purchased before 31st March 2020.

The Court allowed the application as the vehicles are to be put to use for public purposes and have been purchased before 31st March 2020 and are registered on the E-Vahan portal.

Application by private individuals: the Court allowed an application filed seeking a direction for registration of Ashok Leyland ALPSV bus which is a BS-IV CNG vehicle. The Court also allowed another application seeking registration of a ISUZU high desk truck, as it is a BS-IV CNG compliant vehicle.

This is an application by the Delhi Cantonment Board seeking a direction for the registration of a CNG BS-IV truck. The truck is intended to be used as a road broomer by the Cantonment Board. Therefore, following our earlier order dated 18.09.2020, this application is allowed.

I.A. No.142872 of 2019

Applications for Registration of BS-IV CNG compliant vehicle : The Court has allowed an application by B.S.M. Public School seeking registration of a ISUZU bus as it is a BS-IV CNG compliant vehicle. Further the Court also allowed registration of 6 numbers of SML ISUZU school buses, on application filed by an Educational Society

Supreme Court had on 24th October 2018 ordered that the sale and registration of BS-IV vehicles will not be allowed with effect from 1st April 2020. The Court had observed that health of the teeming millions of this country will have to take precedence over the greed of a few automobile manufacturers.

However, in August 2020, the Apex Court had granted a limited relief with respect to the registration of BS-IV vehicles, and had allowed registration of BS-IV vehicles (Delhi NCR) which could not be registered in March 2020 due to the lockdown

"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.

On July 31, 2020, the Supreme 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. "

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.

Through its order on 18th September 2020, for BS-IV and BS-VI compliant vehicles, Supreme Court had noted that BS-VI norms came into force on 1st April 2020 and those vehicles purchased upto 31st March 2020 were BS-IV compliant. Therefore the emission from BS-VI compliant vehicles was found within the norms and those vehicles purchased on or after 01.04.2020 and which were BS-VI compliant, were held liable to be registered.

The Court had further noted that BS-IV compliant vehicles purchased till 31st March are concerned, must have been registered with the E- Vahan Portal before the cut-off date to establish the date of purchase. Such vehicles necessary for the Municipal Corporation to carry essential public utility services were also allowed to registered. However, these cases were directed to be scrutinized by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), to avoid repeated applications being filed before the Court just for the purpose of getting registration.

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