Only BS-VI vehicles to be sold from April 2020: Supreme Court

October 24: No BS-IV or BS-VI non-compliant vehicles can be sold after 31 March, 2020. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that only vehicles compliant with the Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission standards would be allowed to be sold from 1 April, 2020. The Bharat Stage (BS) emission standards are standards instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles.

The order was passed a three-judge bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur. The bench said the need of the hour was to move to a cleaner fuel. The BS IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017. In 2016, the Centre had announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020.

Automobile makers and activists had moved court seeking clarification on whether sale and registration of vehicles compliant with earlier emission standards would be allowed after that date. The manufacturers had argued that they were allowed to manufacture BS-IV vehicles till March 31, 2020 and they should be granted reasonable time to sell their stock.

Emphasizing the urgent need to switch to a cleaner fuel, the top court also rejected the centre’s request for a three-month extension of the deadline so that car makers can sell their non-BS-VI vehicles.