The auto industry recently received a jolt when the Supreme Court denied their request to extend the April 1, 2017 deadline for the ban on sales of cars that conform to BS III (Bharat Standard 3) norms. The top 13 cities in the country have already moved to BS IV norms as of 2010 and the rest of the country was supposed to transition, when the SC passed the order in March 2014, giving the auto industry three years to do so. But now, figures submitted by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show that over 8 lakh vehicles with BS III compliance still lie in company warehouses. This might be a huge loss for the auto industry, but as the Supreme Court has stated, what is more important is the life and health of the people of India.
What is interesting though, is the claim by some insiders in the auto industry, that the country hasn’t yet completely switched over to BS IV compliant fuel. They say that running BS IV vehicles on BS III fuel will be damaging. But is that enough reason for the courts to extend the deadline by another year? Or is this just a way of trying to get their inventory sold instead of incurring a loss? BS IV cars run on BS III fuel in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, so that contention isn’t really valid.
