Insurance be considered as proof of BS-III two-wheelers sale: Delhi high court

New Delhi: The Delhi high court has told the city’s transport department that while verifying date of sale of BS-III two-wheelers prior to registration, it should take into account the dates of online payment of insurance premium or issuance of insurance certificate.

The direction comes as a relief for the dealers who had sold BS-III two-wheelers before 31 March, the deadline set by the Supreme Court for sale and registration of such vehicles, but were not able to get them registered as the department was not accepting documents after the date set by the apex court.

However, the direction would be applicable to only the ‘non-self registering dealers’, who cannot make online payment of sales tax, the high court has clarified. Several such dealers had moved the high court saying the department was not considering the documents for registration and claimed that they have made the sale before the deadline.

Around 1000 BS-III fuel two-wheelers and commercial vehicles were awaiting registration. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, before whom the plea was listed, asked the department to register the BS-III vehicles as per the apex court’s orders provided that the dealers gave requisite proof that the sale was made before 31 March.

The court told the department that while verifying the factum of sale, it “may take into account the online proof of payment of insurance premium or issuance of policy prior to the date of 31 March 2017”. It also said if the above two conditions are not met, then the motor licensing officer, who would verify the date of sale, cannot merely rely on the sale invoice provided by the dealer but would have to consider the tax payment receipts issued by statutory or regulatory bodies.

The court also said the petitioner-dealers be allowed to present their vehicles for physical inspection till 15 May. These directions, however, would be applicable on case-to -case basis and only to ‘non-self registering dealers’, the court clarified in its order.

The order was based on the recommendations of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) whose view was sought by the transport department as it was not sure how to verify date of sale of vehicles which were purportedly sold on or before 31 March.

The EPCA made a distinction between non-self registering and self registering dealers while laying down guidelines for registration of BS-III vehicles sold on or before 31 March. The self registering dealers are those which have the facility of making online payment of sales taxes. The apex court on 29 March had banned the sale and registration of vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, in India from April one when the new emission norms came into force.