Construction equipment manufacturers heave a sigh of relief as the apex court has clarified that its order for banning sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from April 1 is not applicable to construction and equipment vehicles.

Following the Supreme Court order on BS-III vehicles announced on March 29, RTOs (regional transport offices) in some states stopped registering construction equipment vehicles also from April 1 when BS-IV norms kicked in. By mid-April, many States started registering the construction vehicles gradually as they understood that the ban was meant only for other automobiles.

However, RTOs in States such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh refused to register construction equipment vehicles awaiting further clarification from the government.

“It was a nightmare for the construction equipment manufacturers for the last one month as we were not able to register our vehicles, in many RTOs,” said Anand Sundaresan, President of the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (ICEMA) and Chairman Schwing Stetter India. The industry was doing average monthly sales of about 5,000 units. But, lost nearly a third of the sales as the authorities refused to register the vehicles.

The Association has sought clarification from the Supreme Court. “We are relieved by the Supreme Court’s Clarification that ban on BS-III norm is not applicable to construction equipment vehicles,” said Sundaresan.

Upto BS-III, norms were same for both automobiles and construction equipment. But for BS-IV, there is a different road map for the construction industry to move into new regime. Hence, SC ruling was not meant for us, he explained.

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