The legal tussle: and the uncertainty of policies
We have all heard ‘kanoon’ andha hota hai..thanks to many bollywood films. However this week we also saw that happening in real life. With due respect to the highest court of the land and to our judiciary two decisions that came this week have been baffling. The first one pertains to the blanket ban on diesel vehicles in NCR (http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/supreme-court-extends-ban-on-diesel-vehicle-registration-in-delhi/story-PeqGfxyBEuFCVSaIlwVzSK.html).
The second decision came today when the court strictly reprimanded AICTE, the nodal agency for engineering, pharmacy and management education in the country (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Grant-approval-to-institute-on-time-or-we-would-be-extremely-ruthless-to-you-SC-to-AICTE/articleshow/52522804.cms). I am not a very keen legal observer but still I think It is for the first time that such a ruthless language was seen from the highest court of the country.
The two cases are also interesting because in the first the courts seems to be i ahurry where it should have given more time, while in the second case the courts should have been more patient while it is asking the AICTE to do the work in a hurry.
The status of AICTE is well known to all those who are in the higher education field. It further deteriorated during the UPA govt tenure. And when it was just trying to set the standards in the present regime, through hard work and due diligence of the chairman AICTE, the court wants them to finish the work any how and provide permissions / approvals to engineering and or other institutes by a given date.
With due respect, both the cases have other side of the story which the honourable court could not see, or may be their eyes were blindfolded as ‘kanoon andha hota hai’.
While diesel cars are popular in Europe they are not much in the US. However there are reasons for it (http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a4567/4330313/).
A more comprehensive data and analysis can be seen in this post (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Passenger_cars_in_the_EU).
Traditionally the United States of America is not a great place for diesel cars (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34329596). And one needs to ask how fair is it to demonize diesel car for polluting environment ( http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/11/have-diesel-cars-been-unfairly-demonised-for-air-pollution).
But that is changing of late ( http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/diesel-cars-make-a-comeback-in-the-us/ ) as this article will show.
However the important point is there are many automobile companies who have strong investments in the diesel manufacturing facilities and they are being affected. Fortuner the best selling SUV from the Toyota stable cannot be sold in NCR region as its 2.9k CC engine. Similarly is the case with Mahindra and Tata Motors . The automobile company is in a state of shock as billions of dollars that were pumped into the country by foreign investors now face the risk of going down. Besides it also affects employment and sentiments sending a strong negative signals and break to the Make in India campaign. It has already damaged India’s reputation in the international market.
The question again is not that. Should we care about international sentiments or should we care about own welfare. And there in lies the problem.
1. The best way for the NGT and the supreme court would have been to phase out diesel engines slowly but definitely with a time line. This would have helped the automobile industry to move to other technologies and would not have hurt them.
2. Also an order could have been given to not exceed the sale of diesel vehicles beyond a certain number thus curbing excessive diesel vehicles on the roads.
3. Last but not least the government should try to provide more incentives to green technologies so that the shift from diesel and petrol to hybrid and electric cars is market driven which the automobile companies are fast to catch and take into consideration.
All these steps would had they been taken would not have let down the automobile industry as much as they find themselves now.
Nevertheless as we know ‘kanoon andha hota hai’ and so we have to bear the ramifications of the same. Nonetheless the government should intervene to the rescue of automobile industry. Hon’ble minister for defence Shri Manohar Parrikar has already given statements in this regard (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/defence-minister-manohar-parrikar-diesel-vehicles-ban-pollution-2826509/). but that should not be sufficient.
