Diesel vehicles may be registered on payment of green cess: Supreme Court

"We are inclined to allow registration. We are open to the registration subject to some kind of one-time cess," a bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi said.

Unveiling a slew of measures to curb alarming pollution level in Delhi and NCR, the apex court had on December 16 last year banned registration of diesel-run sports utility vehicles and high-end private cars with engine capacity of 2000 CC and above till March 31.

Later, the ban on registration was extended till further orders.

During the hearing, the bench asked a battery of senior lawyers including Gopal Subramanium and Gopal Jain, appearing for automobile majors, to explore possibility of levy of green cess at the time of registration of diesel cars and SUVs.

"Can you (lawyers for auto firms) ask your people to work out details as to what may be the cess to be levied on such vehicles with regard to the showroom price etc," it said.

The lawyers said it was not an "adversarial" litigation and the amount of cess can be worked out.

"We will come out with a concrete proposal," Jain said.

The bench also inquired about as to whether there were any prescribed emission standards for diesel vehicles.

Subramanium said that at present EURO-IV emission norms are in place for vehicles and for switching to stricter emission norms of EURO-VI, there was the need for advance fuel which is presently unavailable.

The bench has sought reports with regard to the research works carried out on the impact of Euro-IV norms on vehicular emission.

Earlier, automobile giants like Mercedes, Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors had moved the apex court for modification of the order by which registration of their high -end diesel vehicles, with an engine capacity of 2000 CC and above was barred in Delhi and NCR.

While continuing with the status-quo on registration of high-end diesel vehicles, the court had asked the big car makers not to treat the PIL as an "adversarial litigation" and "treat it in public interest".