1. Context

The Supreme Court said no Bharat Stage IV vehicle shall be sold across the country with effect from April 1, 2020.

The apex court was deciding whether a grace period should be given to automobile manufacturers for the sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles after April 1, 2020. At a previous hearing, advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, had opposed the government's move to give time till June 30, 2020, to automobile manufacturers to sell their BS-VI non-compliant four-wheelers manufactured on March 31, 2020

 2. Bharat Stage emissions standards

•  The Bharat Stage emission standards are standards instituted by the government to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. India has been following European (Euro) emission norms, although with a time lag of five years. The BS IV norms had been enforced across the country since April 2017. In 2016, the Centre announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020. Implementation of the intermediate BS-V standard was originally scheduled for 2019.
• The first emission norms were introduced in India in 1991 for petrol and 1992 for diesel vehicles. Following these, the catalytic converter became mandatory for petrol vehicles and unleaded petrol was introduced in the market.

3. Difference between BS-IV and BS-VI

 The main difference in standards between the existing BS-IV and the new BS-VI auto fuel norms is the presence of sulphur. The BS-VI fuel is estimated to bring around an 80 percent reduction of sulphur, from 50 parts per million to 10 ppm. According to analysts, the emission of NOx (nitrogen oxides) from diesel cars is also expected to come down by nearly 70 percent, and 25 percent from cars with petrol engines.

 4. BSI, BSII, BSIII, BSIV, and BSVI emission norms

• The abbreviation BS, as mentioned above, refers to ‘Bharat Stage’. It is prefixed to the iteration of the actual emission norms. The primary rules with the soubriquet Asian nation 2000 were introduced in the year 2000, with the second and third iterations being introduced in 2001 and 2005 with the soubriquet BSII (BS2) and BSIII (BS3), respectively.
• The fourth iteration, BSIV, was introduced in 2017 and therefore the delay between the introduction of BS3 and BS4 resulted in fast-tracking the BSVI or BS6 emission norms rather than BSV (BS5) norms.
• On 29 April 1999, the Supreme Court of India ruled that all vehicles in the country had to meet Euro I or India 2000 norms by June 1, 1999, and Euro II would be mandatory in the National Capital Region (NCR) from April 2000. Carmakers were not prepared for this transition and in a subsequent judgment; the implementation of Euro II was deferred.
• In 2002, the government accepted the report submitted by the Mashelkar committee, which proposed a road map for the rollout of Euro-based emission norms in India. It also recommended a phased implementation of future norms, with regulations being implemented in major cities first and extended to the rest of the country after a few years.
• Based on the recommendations of the committee, the National Auto Fuel policy was announced officially in 2003. The road map for the implementation of the BS norms was laid out in 2010. The policy also created guidelines for auto fuels, reduction of pollution from older vehicles, and R&D for air quality data creation and health administration.
• The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• Since October 2010, Bharat Stage (BS) III norms were enforced across the country. BS-IV emission norms were put in place in 13 major cities from April 2010, and the entire country from April 2017.
• In 2016, the government announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020.
• In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court banned the sale and registration of motor vehicles conforming to Bharat Stage IV emission standards in the entire country from 1 April 2020.
• On 15 November 2017, the Union petroleum ministry, in consultation with public oil marketing companies, decided to bring forward the date of BS-VI grade auto fuels in NCT of Delhi with effect from 1 April 2018, instead of 1 April 2020.
• The ministry asked OMCs to examine if introducing BS-VI auto fuels in the whole of the NCR area from 1 April 2019 was possible. The step was taken due to the problem of air pollution faced by Delhi, which became worse around 2019. The decision was met with disarray by the automobile companies, as they had planned their production according to a 2020 road map.
• The phasing out of the 2-stroke engine for two-wheelers, the cessation of production of the Maruti 800, and the introduction of electronic controls have been due to the regulations related to vehicular emissions.

5. Effect on Automobile Industry

The Supreme Court verdict may hit the automobile industry. The manufacturers had argued that they still have unsold stock of BS-IV vehicles and requested time till March 31, 2020, so that they are granted reasonable time to sell their stock. Using the introduction of higher-grade fuel will be beneficial only if it is done in tandem with the rollout of BS-IV-compliant vehicles. Using BS-VI fuel in the current BS-IV engines or, conversely, running BS-VI engines on the current-grade fuel, may be ineffective in curbing vehicular pollution, and may damage the engine in the long run

Source: The Indian Express