Vehicle ban: Green bodies laud SC for safeguarding public health
Green bodies on Wednesday lauded Supreme Court’s decision to ban sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant, terming it as an acknowledgment to the public health crisis and a step in right direction towards fighting air pollution.
Green bodies on Wednesday lauded Supreme Court’s decision to ban sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant, terming it as an acknowledgment to the public health crisis and a step in right direction towards fighting air pollution.
Terming it a “significant” step forward, they said the decision sends out a message that the automobile industry will have to walk the extra mile to address the expansive concern around public health and is also a “crucial” step in putting public health above business interest of few.
Read | Supreme Court bans registration, sale of BS-III cars from April
Environment experts said the transition is “critical”, as the movement from BS-III to BS-IV could lead to substantial reduction in particulate matter emission.
“This is a significant step forward as this gives the message and the lesson that the automobile industry will have to walk the extra mile to address the expansive concern around public health and not weigh down the transition by taking a very narrow technical view,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale and registration of vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant from April 1, 2017 across the country. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta prohibited registration of any vehicles which do not meet the Bharat Stage-IV emission norm standards from April 1.
The BS-IV emission norms will come into force from April 1, 2017. The apex court observed that “health of the people is far far more important than the commercial interest of automobile manufactures”.
“The Supreme Court’s order restraining the manufactures from selling BS-III vehicles from April 1 onwards is a welcome step and a historic step towards cleaner vehicles.
“Apart from putting focus back on air pollution, the order also signifies that we all need to take environmental directives seriously,” said Amit Bhatt, Director-Integrated Transport, Sustainable Cities, World Resources Institute India.
Greenpeace India said the apex court’s ruling is an acknowledgment to the public health crisis India is facing and it is a step in the right direction towards fighting air pollution.
“Like vehicles, thermal power plants are also a big contributor towards air pollution, hence the next step in that direction is for the government to implement the December 2015 notification on emission standards for thermal power plants in a time-bound manner and not dilute them.
“The judgment today is a very crucial step in putting public health above business or economic interest of few and that should be reciprocated to the thermal power generation sector too,” said Sunil Dahiya, Campaigner, Greenpeace India.