Supreme Court allows registration of BSIV vehicles sold before lockdown
The Supreme Court has now allowed the sale of BSIV cars that were sold pre-lockdown, but which couldn't be registered due to COVID19 bringing to a halt all RTO and dealer activities across the country. However, this respite is applicable only to those vehicles that have been registered on the Vahaan portal.
Earlier on July 8, the apex court had ordered that BSIV cars sold after the original March 31, 2020 deadline for the BSVI switchover will not be registered.
The Supreme Court had partially relaxed the cutoff date for the sale of BSIV cars on March 27. Dealers were able to sell 10 per cent of their stock of BSIV vehicles, for up to 10 days from when the lockdown lifted. This was valid across India, except Delhi-NCR. This decision came after numerous parties, including FADA, appealed to the court given the prevailing situation. Sales had already been weak but the coronavirus had slowed this to a trickle, with dealerships and production facilities shut.
In light of this, the Supreme Court had directed the government to corroborate the sales data furnished by FADA on the Vahan portal. It went on to say that only those vehicles that were registered on the Vahan portal will be termed legal. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH), 11 lakh vehicles were sold in the country between March 12 and March 31, with 2.5 lakh vehicles sold between March 29 and March 31. According to the numbers submitted by FADA, the body's member dealers had sold 94,000 vehicles and non-members sold 1.3 lakh units after March 31. It is estimated that 17,000 vehicles have not been registered on the portal.
The dispute had arisen because the Supreme Court was investigating if dealers were underreporting sales during the 10 day grace period, to keep in line with the Court limit of 1.09 lakh vehicles.