Supreme Court Refuses to Extend Sale Of BS4 Vehicles

HIGHLIGHTS

• FADA approached the Supreme Court to seek an extension to sell BS4 vehicles till May 31, 2020

• The retail sales have been been dropped due to the outbreak of COVID-19 virus

• Supreme Court has said that they can't hear the plea filed before the 31st of March 2020

Overview

Sometime ago, FADA had approached the Supreme Court seeking an extension to sell BS 4 compliant vehicles in the nation amidst the rule which saw the deadline of 31st of May 2020. This move was initiated by FADA as the retail sales of automobiles dropped significantly due to the outbreak of COVID-19 also known as the Coronavirus. 

But now it is known that the Supreme Court has refused to list FADA’s application till 31st of March 2020 and that the pleas can't be heard before the deadline. FADA hoped to get an urgent hearing from the Supreme Court by the end of March 2020 which also is the deadline for the sales of BS 4 compliant vehicles. 

Rules and Regulations

As we all know that the BS 6 emission norms are going to take place by the 1st of April 2020, dealers had the deadline of 31st March to sell and register their BS 4 vehicles. Starting from the 1t of April 2020 all new vehicles have to comply with the cleaner and more stringent BS 6 regulations. Hence the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) had requested the Apex Court to permit the sales and registration of BS 4 compliant vehicles until 31st of March 2020 as there was a steep decline in sales due to the complete outbreak of the Coronavirus. Adding to this, the country now faces a complete lockdown up till the mid of April 2020.

A bench which consisted of Supreme Court Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah refused to list the application filed by FADA and said that it can't be heard before the 31st of March. Also, last month the Supreme Court had rejected FADA’s application to extend the deadline by a month to clear the stock of BS 4 compliant vehicles.  

The Appeal

In the appeal, the President of FADA had stated that there was a drastic drop in sales and that customer walk-ins had been reduced drastically due to the fear of spreading of coronavirus. In addition to this, the counter sals had fallen by 60 percent to 7 percent across all the automotive dealerships in a few days. The president of FADA also stated that many of the leading cities were facing lockdown and many of the dealerships had to close their shops to avoid the spreading of the virus. 

Other Regulatory Bodies Moving to Supreme Court

With the current situation, FADA was not the only single regulatory body moving to the Supreme Court. SIAM (Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers) have also knocked the doors of the Supreme Court pleading to allow the registration of BS 4 compliant vehicles till 31st of March 2020. As per the law passed by the court, BS 4 compliant vehicles will not be allowed to register beyond the specific cut off dates that ranged from 29 th of February until 25th of March 2020.