Supreme Court to hear municipal bodies' plea seeking registration of new BS-IV vehicles on March 16

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has sought apex court`s nod for immediate registration of these vehicles, which will not be registered once the 31st March deadline expires.

New Delhi: As the March 31 deadline for registration of BS-IV compliant vehicles nears, the Supreme court will tomorrow hear a plea by East Delhi Municipal Corporation seeking exemption for registration of around 80 BS-IV compliant vehicles, which are above 2000 cc capacity.

The EDMC has sought apex court`s nod for immediate registration of these vehicles, which will not be registered once the 31st March deadline expires. Apart from that, around 200 vehicles already procured by North Delhi Municipal Corporation, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Fire Services, Oil PSUs are also awaiting registration permission.

These vehicles have been purchased for various public utility services like mechanical road sweeping, water sprinkling, waste collection, sewer cleaning, fire services, water supply, oxygen transport.

The municipal corporation has claimed that registration of these vehicles is mired in a web of past orders by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Supreme Court, which has delayed registration and use of these utility vehicles for various essential services. In absence of available vehicles, waste collection, water supply and various other municipal functions have taken a hit, the corporation claimed.

As a stop-gap measure, municipal corporations are resorting to hiring vehicles from other states of Euro-III/II emission norms for utility services, even as they await the top court nod to inject a fresh supply of vehicles into Delhi`s utility services.