New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday said the time has come for all to realise that a collective effort was needed to clear up the polluted air and the automobile industry has a huge role to play in this.
Asking the automobile industry to wake up to their responsibility for the benefit of people, the bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said “It’stime to realize that a collective effort is needed to clear the air”.
The court said this in its reasoning for banning the sale of BS-III emission norm vehicles from April 1, this year.
Referring to the automobile manufacturers arguments that they were permitted to manufacture BS-III compliant vehicles till March 31 and any prohibition on the sale and registration of such vehicles from April 1 would affect their commercial interest, Justice Lokur speaking for the bench said, “In our opinion, the interveners have completely ignored the history of the last a decade or so which led to the introduction of Bharat Stage norms and their implementation in a phased manner.”
Pointing to the rapid growth in the automobile industry and increasing number of vehicles contributing to the phenomenal rise in air pollution, the bench said.
“It seems that the automobile industry was quite sanguine that its desire for selling accumulated stock of BS-III compliant vehicles even after April 1, 2017 would be acceded to,” the court referred to the past practice when it had become necessary, in one sense, for the Centre to “virtually submit to the commercial interests of the automobile industry by permitting the registration of BS-III compliant vehicles in some cities while permitting the sale and registration of BS-I and BS-II compliant vehicles in other cities even after the cut-off date of April 1, 2005 till the accumulated stock is exhausted.”
