The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is unhappy with the Supreme Court’s decision today to vest the authority of certifying cars as Euro norm-compliant in automobile manufacturers and strongly condemns the move to allow certificates from manufacturers as sufficient proof to let them into NCR."The government has been corrupted by the industry with no concern for public health," CSE director Anil Agarwal said.

CSE demands that the government must make it mandatory for all car manufacturers to make the actual emission levels of their vehicles public and set up a transparent certification system to authenticate manufacturer’s claims.

The earlier court order of April 29 had directed, "With a view to facilitate registration in the manner indicated above, the registering authority may register the vehicle concerned on a certificate of the manufacturer, duly authenticated by the authorised officer certifying that the vehicle concerned conforms to Euro I and Euro II norms." The government instead of setting up a proper certification system to authenticate industry’s claims, wanted the court to specify the agency that would be responsible for this. This clearly shows the incompetence of the official bodies to deal with air pollution control strategies. Justice B.N. Kirpal even admonished the Government counsel saying that he seemed to be representing the industry and not the Government of India.

Pushed by the automobile industry, the Government of India had hurried the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing today to modify the earlier order of April 29 on advancement of Euro I and Euro II norms in the national capital region of Delhi. K Raval, Additional Solicitor General representing the Government of India, pleaded  for extension of the deadline for meeting Euro I norms, and sought clarification on application of the quota restriction on the number of car sales in the NCR. He also asked the court to specify the competent authority to certify Euro norm compliance.

The clarification from the bench today that any number of cars meeting Euro I norms can be registered from June 1, 1999 also dilutes the April 29 judgement, which had fixed the number of cars meeting Euro I norms at 1,500  including 250 diesel ones. The order of April 29 mentions clearly that "with effect from 1st November, 1999, 250 diesel driven vehicles per month and 1,250 petrol driven vehicles per month may be registered on first-first serve basis in the NCR till 1st April, 2000, only if they conform to Euro I norms."

However, the bench including Chief Justice A.S. Anand, Justice B.N. Kirpal and Justice V.N. Khare told a packed court house today that this part of the judgement was ambiguous and actually meant that there was no cap on  the number of Euro I compliant cars that could be registered from June 1 1999 onwards.

CSE, though happy with the advancement of tighter norms for all cars, is concerned because the original  recommendation of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority to restrict polluting diesel cars to  cut toxic particulate emissions in Delhi has got sidelined and there is no cap on diesel cars any more.

Though this is an interim order, CSE hopes that this issue will be heard with more seriousness both by the EPCA  and the Supreme Court after the court reopens in July, and effective action initiated to stop dieselisation of the private vehicle fleet. Otherwise the spurt in the number of diesel cars in Delhi would go against the spirit of the court’s own order moving public transport in Delhi to CNG by 2001 to control vehicular emissions.

It is encouraging to note that the bench is serious about public health as it struck down the plea from both the government and Maruti Udyog Ltd for extension of deadline for meeting Euro I norms. Chief Justice A.S. Anand noted,"Most auto makers have the technology and export cars meeting more advanced norms from here to Europe but they dump obsolete technology in India with no concern for the heath of citizens."

For more information contact Anumita Roychowdhury, Durga Ray, Sandhya Sharma, or Chandrachur Ghosh at CSE,  Tel. Nos. 91-11-6981124, 6981110, 6983394