SC bar on registration to leave thousands of BS-IV vehicles in the lurch

Thousands of BS-IV vehicles can’t get registered as the Supreme Court has restrained transport authorities across the country from completing the process till further orders. Justice Arun Mishra-led bench expressed displeasure over a large number of vehicles that were sold in March and observed that something “fraudulent” may have taken place. The observation was based on the affidavit filed by the Centre which contained VAHAN registration details of BS-IV compliant vehicles.

On 8 July, the SC had reversed its 27 March order which allowed the sale of BS-IV compliant vehicles after the end of lockdown. The top court had come down heavily on the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association of India (FADA) for selling more BS-IV vehicles than allowed by the court. The SC held that its order will protect only those vehicles whose details have been correctly uploaded on the e-VAHAN portal, noting that data of over 17,000 sold vehicles wasn’t available on the portal.

The top court observed that it can’t allow violation of the spirit of its order by allowing sale even after the end of lockdown. Court also ordered that claims made by four states to be verified if they are registered on the e-VAHAN portal or not.

FADA contended that they sought registration of vehicles sold before 31 March. They had submitted it on 31 March, their member dealers had sold 94,000 BS-IV vehicles and non-members had sold over 1.3 lakh BS-IV vehicles, although the top court had allowed the sale of only 1.09 lakh vehicles. On 27 March, the SC allowed the sale of unsold BS-IV inventory for 10 days post end of lockdown, provided they get registered within 10 days of sale. The interim order was passed in view of FADA citing Force Majeure.