The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that diesel is not the only ‘devil’ responsible for polluting city’s air as it fought against the court’s proposal to impose a green cess on the purchase of diesel-run cars with engine capacity of above 2,000cc.
The registration of such vehicles is banned in Delhi and National Capital Region.
The Centre’s open defence of the big-ticket auto manufacturers came from Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who argued the ban had dented Narendra Modi Government’s ambitious Make In India initiative.
He contended that foreign investment in auto industry has taken a five per cent nosedive and existing manufacturers could quit the country due to the prevailing uncertainty resulting from the apex court’s orders to tax the premium diesel cars.
The Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi reserved its orders on whether to modify its December 2015 directive imposing a ban on fresh registration of diesel vehicles above 2000 cc. The court might decide on introducing a cess to be levied on purchase of each diesel car in this category.
Rohatgi said that blaming diesel alone for the pollution in Delhi was not fair. Petrol emits carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocardons while CNG emits noxious nitrogen oxide, he added, claiming that each fuel had its advantage and disadvantage. The Bench asked the Centre that diesel is the most heavily taxed fuel giving an impression that its “undesirable”. But Rohatgi refuted this claim and said the heavy tax was linked to the subsidy attached to diesel.
Coming up with an alternate to imposition of cess on diesel cars, Rohatgi unveiled the Centre’s grand plan to offer a minimum of Rs 50,000 for any old car which is more than 10 years old. This scheme will take off next year, forcing car owners to shift to cars with BS-IV emission standards. By 2020, BS-VI emission fuel will be available in India where the quality of diesel will be at par with petrol.
Auto major Mercedes and Toyota voluntarily agreed to deposit one per cent of sale proceeds from each car towards green cess in order to resume business. The Bench reminded the Centre and auto industry that the effort was not to affect business but to give clean air to citizens. Amicus curiae Aparajita Singh said that all big names like Mercedes, BMW had failed emission standard tests abroad and should shell out at least 20 per cent on sale of each diesel car towards cess amount.