The bench comprising the Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna, V. Ramasubramanian of the Supreme Court has allowed Public Utility Vehicles which are BS-IV complaint purchased before 31st March, to be registered, subject to scrutiny by Environment Pollution Control Authority.
The Court has also directed the EPCA to scrutiny the pending cases of Public Utility Vehicles and submit a report for passing a common order.
The bench directed that the CNG Vehicles can be registered since there cannot be any valid rejection to the vehicles, as the emission from these Public Utility Vehiclesis within the limits. The emission from BS-VI compliant vehicles is within the norms and hence the vehicles purchased on or after 01.04.2020 and which are BS-VI compliant, should also liable to be registered, the court added.
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It was directed while considering applications for registration of three types of vehicles viz., (1) CNG vehicles (2) BS-IV compliant vehicles and (3) BS-VI compliant vehicles for being used for essential public utility services and observed,
Insofar as vehicles purchased upto 31.03.2020 which are BS-IV compliant are concerned, they must have been registered with the EVahan Portal before the cut-off date to establish the date of purchase. If the purchase had been made on or before 31.03.2020 and these vehicles are BS-IV compliant, such vehicles necessary for the Municipal Corporation to carry essential public utility services should also be registered. But such cases shall be scrutinized by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA).
