No BS-IV Vehicle to Be Sold and Registered in India After April 1, 2020, Says Supreme Court

New Delhi, October 24: The Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that no Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) vehicle will be sold and registered across the country after 1st April, 2020. The top Court today pronounced its order on whether grace period should be given to automobile manufacturers for the sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles after 1st April, 2020, which was the deadline.

With the latest decision, the Bharat Stage VI (or BS-VI) emission norm would come into force from 1st April, 2020 across the country. The BS IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017 and will now switch to Bharat Stage VI in April 2020. According to details Auto Fuel Policy, BS IV was to be adopted by the country by 2017, BS V by 2020, and BS VI by 2024.

Earlier in 2016, the Centre had announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020. According to a PTI report,  a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur had on August 27 reserved its order on the issue. Delhi Air Quality Index: Pollution Worsens in NCR, Anand Vihar at 999 Under ‘Hazardous’ Category.

The Bharat Stage emission standards are believed to regulate the output of air pollutants from vehicle engines. However, the higher the Bharat Stage, the less polluting is the vehicle.

Reports inform that the automobile manufacturers had justified the grace period to sell their vehicles contending that India was leapfrogging from BS-IV emission norms to BS-VI within a short span of time. However, they 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.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2018 11:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).