BS-III vehicle ban: Vehicles bought on or before 31 March can be registered later, but there’s a catch

The ban on BS-III compliant vehicles in India shouldn’t come as a surprise to manufacturers and consumers alike as the order regarding the ban was given in 2010. A Supreme Court (SC) judgement from 29 March 2017 and a statement from the Nagpur Regional Transport Office (RTO) further clarify the situation.

The SC judgement on 29 March was given in response to write petition filed by a number of manufacturers and dealers of automobiles in India. In the petition, the applicants argued for the extension of the 1 April deadline with regards to the sale and registration of BS-III compliant vehicles.

Quite simply, the SC confirmed that the sale of BS-III compliant vehicles will be prohibited from 1 April 2017 onwards and that registration of such vehicles will also be prohibited. The SC order clarified that BS-III compliant vehicles purchased on or before 31 March 2017 can still be registered as long as there is proof of purchase.

The Nagpur RTO, however, had some more restrictions on this ban. In a statement, the RTO said that vehicles that were bought on 31 March 2017 but not delivered on 31 March 2017 are not eligible for registration. In fact, the RTO stated that dealers who accept registrations of vehicles on 31 March 2017 without first delivering the vehicles will be subject to legal action.

(Also read: BS-III vehicle ban: Here is a list of discounted motorcycles and scooters)

In the writ petition to the SC, applicants state that there was no order banning the manufacture of BS-III compliant vehicles and so they did not cease the manufacture of these vehicles and thus, they never broke any laws. They argue that because of this, they have stock consisting of a number of BS-III-compliant vehicles and that the ban should be lifted to allow them to get rid of said stock.

The SC heard the arguments and denied the claims on the grounds that manufacturers and dealers were made aware of the deadline 7 years ago and that they had plenty of time and the technical know-how to upgrade their vehicles to be compliant with the BS-IV standard.

In its order, the SC states that, “manufacturers of such vehicles were fully aware, way back in 2010, that all vehicles would have to convert to BS-IV fuel on and from 1st April, 2017 and therefore, they had more than enough time to stop the production of BS-III compliant vehicles and switch over to the manufacture of BS-IV compliant vehicles.”

The order points out that Maruti Suzuki has completely switched over to the manufacture of BS-IV vehicles and that there’s no reason that other manufacturers couldn’t do the same.

In conclusion, the SC states that the potential health hazard of introducing BS-III compliant vehicles in an already polluted environment outweighs the “commercial interest of the manufacturers or the loss that they are likely to suffer in respect of the so-called small number of such vehicles.”

Manufacturers were aware of the deadline and choose not to upgrade, ”they chose to sit back and declined to take sufficient pro-active steps,” adds the SC.

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