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SIAM files review petition with Supreme Court over BS-III vehicles ban
Apr-28-2017

The auto makers association, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court pleading for a review of the judgement issued in the case of BS III Vehicles. SIAM said that the review petition has pointed out certain facts that were not covered in the Judgment, which go to the root of the matter and had influenced the Court to pass such an Order.

According to the industry association, the Supreme Court has erroneously construed an office memorandum from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways dated March 3, 2017 to be an office memorandum dated March 3, 2015, i.e. two years earlier in holding that the government had sent a clear message to the manufacturers to stop production of BS-III vehicles before April 1, 2017. SIAM has said that according to the government assurance given three weeks before the judgment, the unsold stocks of BS-III vehicles manufactured before April 1 would be permitted to be sold and registered even after the deadline as was done when BS-II and BS-III norms were implemented. It also said that two-wheeler manufacturers and commercial vehicle makers were hit the hardest by the ruling.

In the review petition, SIAM highlighted that the staggered phase-in of BS IV emission norms for vehicles was not done to help the auto industry as mentioned in the judgment. It also pointed out that this staggering was done to ensure that adequate capacities for the BS IV fuel supply get established to expand the coverage of fuel availability to other parts of the country as per the roadmap agreed with the oil industry.

SIAM elaborated that the Supreme Court has further based its judgment on an assumption that there will be 80 per cent reduction in emissions of PM (particulate matter) between BS III and BS IV standards. Though, it noted that it may be true for only heavy vehicles, but such reduction is much less in other categories of vehicles. In its petition, SIAM also stated that the auto industry has invested Rs 25,000 crore to upgrade vehicle technologies to BS IV level and was therefore an equal contributor in ensuring the improvement in the environment.

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