With the difference between petrol and diesel prices currently standing at Rs 9.02 per litre in Delhi, the Centre does not intend to reduce the gap any further. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) in an affidavit told the Supreme Court that any attempt to further increase the price of diesel will negatively impact inflation and cause a ripple effect in the agriculture and transportation sector. It cited petrol cost to be Rs 73.98 on April 10 as against Rs 64.96 for diesel in Delhi.
The affidavit by the Centre came in response to a query by the Court hearing a PIl filed by environmentalist MC Mehta demanding clean air for Delhi. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), which is advising the Court on environment-related issues, had recommended hiking the price of BS-IV diesel further in order to dis-incentivize the use of diesel, dubbed as a major cause for emitting noxious gases and particulate matter into Delhi’s air.
A separate affidavit filed by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) added that the burden of taxes on purchasing diesel vehicles is already excessive to bear. In a meeting of Secretaries of MoEFCC, MoPNG and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), it was decided recently not to increase taxation on purchase of diesel vehicles. Already diesel cars face higher rate of compensatory cess as compared to corresponding petrol vehicles. Road tax on diesel cars in Delhi is higher than petrol cars. In addition, diesel cars above 2000 cc are subject to one per cent environment protection charge (EPC) in the National Capital Region (NCR).
EPCA lawyer Aparajita Singh told a bench of Justices Madan B lokur and Deepak Gupta that the subsidised diesel price was providing incentive for diesel car users to purchase bad fuel. While the current BS-IV petrol is within emission limits, BS-IV diesel does not meet the required standards. With the introduction of BS-VI diesel alone will the fuel meet the emission standards of that of the present BS-IV petrol.
When asked about the schedule to introduce BS-VI diesel, the Centre informed Court that by April 1, 2019, 17 out of 23 districts in NCR will get BS-VI fuel. These include Alward, Bharatpur, Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Baghpat, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Shamli, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Jhajjar, Palwal, and Mewat. Although the country-wide rollout of BS-VI fuel is slated for April 1, 2020, the Centre even agreed to supply BS-VI fuel in Agra by April 2019.
The Court will hear the matter next in July. Till then EPCA demanded ban on sale of diesel cars as an interim step till introduction of BS-VI fuel. It argued that vehicles bought today would remain for next ten years causing enormous harm. Te bench, however, refused to pass any orders for the present.