Apex court discusses cess for buying a diesel car; open to modifying ban on new registration

Telling leading car manufacturers that they are in the “business of pollution”, the Supreme Court on Monday appealed to thousands of BPO employees to cooperate with its ban on diesel cabs, saying they breathe the same polluted air as Delhiites while their owners sit somewhere abroad making millions.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S Thakur was responding to car manufacturer Toyota’s arguments on how the ban on diesel-run cabs would affect the economy.

“The nation is suffering. Business of BPOs is mostly done at night. Employees have to be ferried in these taxis,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal declared in his submissions.

“The nation is suffering? These employees you talk of who travel in the taxis breathe the same air as us while their owners sit somewhere abroad making millions... You also need to co-operate. This is not an adverse litigation,” Chief Justice Thakur responded.

‘What is Centre doing?’

Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, said vehicles cause only eight to 10 percent of Delhi’s pollution.

At this, Chief Justice Thakur asked Mr. Kumar: “Tell us, what is the level of concern you (Centre) have for the environment?... You have prescribed standards... How are you enforcing them? If there was enforcement in the country, this would have been a different country?”

The court also asked Mr. Kumar what his client’s take was on installing catalytic convertors and diesel particulate filters in existing diesel vehicles.

On April 30, the government had agreed to respond to suggestions made in court to mandatorily install catalytic converters or diesel particulate filters, which is said to reduce vehicular pollution by as much as 80 percent.

This would also help the country quickly raise its emission norms and solve the problem of getting rid of vehicles over 10 years old.

Mr. Kumar responded that the government is promoting 'Make in India' and manufacturers of these devices would have to meet the standards set by the scheme in India.

Registration ban

The court said that it would focus primarily on vehicular pollution and indicated that it was even willing to “modify” its blanket ban on fresh registration of diesel SUVs and those with over 2,000CC engine capacity.

“Assuming that diesel is more polluting, we are open to modification, but not unconditionally. Persons purchasing a diesel vehicles should be made to know that he is doing so at a cost,” Chief Justice Thakur observed.

Polluter pays principle

Following the dictum of 'polluter pays principle', the Bench said buyers should be made to pay a one-time cess for opting for a diesel vehicle.

The court said it wanted to be addressed on what should be the scale of such a cess. “Should it be based on the price of the vehicle, the engine capacity and should there be a difference based on whether the vehicle is commercial or non-commercial... Even purchasers of lighter diesel vehicles should be made to pay this cess,” said Chief Justice Thakur, drawing the roadmap for future course of hearings.

The court decided to hear on May 10 the petitions filed by the Delhi government and the Centre seeking modification of April 30 order banning diesel cabs in Delhi.





The Supreme Court also appealed to BPO employees to cooperate with its ban on diesel cabs

Central Pollution control Board Study (2010)

Vehicles 8.7-20.5 Road dust 14.5-29 Construction 22-23.1 Industries 6.3-9.3 Garnage burning 10.5-24.4 Domestic 2.7-9.4 Diesel Generators sets 6.8-12.3

(Percentage concentribution PM10; range for 10 monitoring locations)