The Supreme Court of India has passed a judgment today to the effect that negates the possibility of the sale of any BS-IV vehicle in the country from 1 April 2020. Before standardizing BS-IV across the country in 2017, the government had declared its intent to jump to BS-VI directly, leapfrogging BS-V, in an attempt to rein in air pollution and to improve the air quality index across the country.
Justice Madan B Lokur, has denied any grace for car makers to sell the BS-IV cars they are allowed to produce till 31 March 2020. With a lead time of four years for carmakers to plan and switch the production from BS-IV to BS-VI cars, the court denied any leeway for carmakers as per suggestions by the amicus curiae Advocate Aparajita Singh.
The switch is not limited to just passenger vehicles. It includes everything from motorcycles to commercial vehicles with the latter being a bigger contributor to air pollution. The initiatives by the current government regarding vehicle safety and emissions should bring the Indian car market at par with the global car market in terms of technology.
