No Relief On Registration Of BS-IV Vehicles Till Further Orders From Apex Court

Expressing doubts over the sale of a large number of these vehicles in March, the court said that the numbers have been tampered with.

File Photo/PTI

New Delhi: In the much-awaited decision which has put a brake on the registration of BS-IV vehicles, the Supreme Court bench led by Justice Arun Mishra on Friday barred registration of the vehicles till further orders. The atop court expressed displeasure about the large number of vehicles that were sold in March and observed that something "fraudulent" may have taken place.  The apex court on Friday has put a stay on the registration of BS-IV vehicles till further orders. Expressing doubts over the sale of a large number of these vehicles in March, the court said that the numbers has been tampered with. The matter will be heard again on August 13. The court had ordered the sale of BS-IV vehicles till March 31. It later allowed the dealers to sell 10 per cent of the remaining vehicles on a request to stop sales due to the lockdown. Now, looking at the March sales figures, the court is suspecting fraud. In the earlier hearing, the Court didn’t seem convinced of the permission sought by dealers about returning the unsold inventory of BS-IV vehicles to the manufacturers so that they could be exported to other countries. In February, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA)  has sought an application seeking an extension of registering BS-IV vehicles due to huge unsold inventory and slowing sales was rejected by the court. At the time of nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25, the top court allowed the sale of 10 per cent of unsold BS-IV vehicles to make up for loss due to the lockdown. It had allowed the sale of BS-IV compliant vehicles for 10 days, barring Delhi-NCR, after the lifting of the nationwide lockdown. However, on July 8 order the top court recalled the order allowing for an additional 10 days to sell BS-IV compliant vehicles after finding out that over 2.55 lakh vehicles were sold, against the 1.05 lakh vehicles that the Court had ordered. WATCH | Watch top 100 news of the day in fatafat style