The Hon’ble Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea filed by the Federation of Automobile Dealers and Associations (FADA) seeking an extension of the deadline for sales of BSIV vehicles in India. The court had banned the sale and registration of BSIV vehicles beyond April 1, 2020, in October 2018.
Automobile dealers confirmed that they will not be able to liquidate the BSIV inventory before the above-mentioned timeline ahead of the implementation of new BSVI emission norms, all set to be applied across the country from the 1st April 2020.
"Hearing FADA’s plea, the Hon’ble SC did not consider our appeal for an extension of sale deadline for Stock vehicles and reconfirmed on their Oct’18 order of 31st Mar’20 as the deadline for sale and registration of BS-4 vehicles. Considering the long downturn which has lasted well over a year now and the current Dynamic demand situation, selling 100% of the BSIV vehicles Currently in stock with our members by 31st of March is a tough task. FADA hence appeals to all OEMs to Shift Completely to BSVI vehicles for all wholesale despatches to dealers and stop further billing of BSIV vehicles with immediate effect to dealers thereby helping liquidation of current BSIV Inventory for a Smoother Transition to BSVI,” commented FADA President Shri Ashish Kale on the issue.
According to a media report, the Supreme Court was already clear in their earlier decision of 31st March as the deadline date and was in no mood of extending it further. Several automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai and Mahindra have already transitioned the major chunk of their product portfolio to BSVI from BSIV though it is the two-wheeler segment that is under most pressure to make the cut.