NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale of BS-III vehicles, saying that the health of citizens is more important than the commercial interests of auto manufacturers.
The apex court directed that no BS-III vehicle shall be registered from April 1 and turned down the plea of automobile manufactures to allow them to dispose of 8.2 lakh such vehicles.
“Health of citizens is more important than commercial interests of auto manufactures and it can’t allow polluting vehicles to ply on roads,” the SC said in its order.
The top court also rejected the central government’s plea which batted for the manufacturing firms and said that its order on BS-IV compliance from April 1 was on manufacturing and not for sale.
The bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta also upbraided auto manufacturers for not taking steps sooner in this regard and then appealing to the SC.
