BS-VI norms: Will do our best to curb pollution, but not by playing havoc with economy, says Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: A day after it observed that conservation of tigers could not be at the cost of development, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it would do its best to reduce pollution, but not by playing havoc with the economy. The remark from a bench of CJI TS Thakur and Justice R Banumathi came on the issue of making BS-VI fuel available across India.

Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan said two oil refineries run by Reliance Industries and Essar produced BS-VI fuel only for export. If they could be directed to sell in the domestic market only, India could switch over to BS-VI norms much before 2020.

"It's one thing to direct the government to take steps to curb pollution and quite another to direct something that would play havoc with the economy," the bench said. The bench told Shankaranarayanan that it was one thing to file a petition on behalf of toddlers seeking measures to curb pollution and quite another to voice "fancy ideas that could cause havoc with the economy".

The bench said: "We cannot ask the government to take over the private refineries. We cannot push them to that extent that the government would take over private ventures and manufacturing facilities that could give the economy a downward push." It then asked solicitor general Ranjit Kumar why the government was not discarding old diesel vehicles. Kumar said that the government as a rule discarded diesel vehicles which were either eight years old or had logged 1.25 lakh kilometres.

The bench said it would be ideal for the government to discard vehicles after five years.

The CJI then recalled that just last year, the court had purchased 20 mini SUVs. "We have 20 new diesel vehicles. We must dispose them after five years," he said. Kumar said hybrid vehicles were good for the city. But, amicus curiae Harish Salve said the import duty on the hybrid component was at an exhorbitant 110% and the solicitor general's client could help by reducing import duty on it.