Supreme Court Bans BS4 Vehicle Registration Till Further Notice

The court has set a date of August 13 to rule on the suspiciously high number of BS4 units sold in the last week of March

• The Supreme Court has ordered authorities to stop registration of all BS4 vehicles.

• The dealers’ association is still in hot waters with the court for violating the provisions of previous orders.

• The court had allowed an extension period after the first lockdown lifted to sell 10 percent of BS4 inventory.

• It only allowed dealers to sell 1.05 lakh BS4 vehicles, but the figures suggest dealers exceeded the limit.

The saga around the sale and registration of BS4 vehicles continues. The Supreme Court has announced that no BS4 models are to be registered until it rules on the matter of dealers selling a questionable number of such vehicles sold just before the March 31 deadline and those that exceeded the directive for the extension period.

This announcement comes after the mid-June directive that marked the final stop on the sales of BS4 vehicles. While the BS6 emission norms came into effect on April 1, the country went into lockdown a few days before the final deadline. As a result, many dealers were stuck with unsold inventories of BS4 vehicles and the court permitted them to sell 10 percent of the stock for 10 days after the lockdown was first lifted (except in Delhi-NCR). According to the court’s orders, dealers could only sell only 1.05 lakh BS4 models during the extension period.

However, the apex court has since discovered that over 2 lakh BS4 vehicles were sold since then, which is a clear violation of the previous order. The court rescinded the extension period and also pulled up the Federation of Automobile Dealer Associations (FADA) for the suspiciously high number of BS4 vehicle sales recorded in the last week of March (during lockdown). 

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra has now made it clear that no BS4 vehicles will be registered by the authorities till the issue is decided. That includes halting any ongoing/pending BS4 vehicle registrations. The bench has also asked FADA to provide the details of vehicles sold by any channel or platform in the last week of March for verification. The court has set a further hearing on August 13.

"You are in great trouble. We will prosecute somebody," the bench told the counsel appearing for the dealers association.

"We will take appropriate action against these fellows," the bench said while referring to the surge in the number of vehicles sold, especially on March 29, 30 and 31.

FADA has been at the court’s doors to try and find some way to get rid of its BS4 inventory for a long time now, from asking for an extension till May 31 to being allowed to return it to the manufacturers for export. In both cases, the court has stood firm, stating that both manufacturers and dealers were given more than enough notice regarding the final deadline for BS4 vehicles and has continued to be strict in this matter.

Also read: National Green Tribunal Urges Govt To Stop Delaying Vehicle Scrappage Policy

Source: PTI