A plea by Mahindra, Toyota and Mercedez-Benz seeking modification of the Supreme Court order banning sale and registration of diesel cars with an engine capacity of 2000 cc and above in Delhi from 1 January till 31 March, 2016 will be taken up by the apex court on Tuesday.
The 16 December SC order was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur to control rising pollution in Delhi. The other judges were Justices A.K. Sikri and R. Banumathi. Simultaneously, the AAP government in Delhi introduced the odd-even formula in the city from 1 January to check pollution.
A study undertaken between January 2012 to June 2013 in phases by the petroleum and natural gas ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) revealed that private diesel cars accounted for 13% of the total diesel consumed in India.
Delhi alone accounts for about 7% of the 26 lakh cars sold in India annually.
The ban has hit the three companies hard.
While Mahindra is not able to sell Bolero, Scorpio and XUV500, Mercedez-Benz will see its A-Class hatchback suffering from the ban. The company's PV segment saw sales increasing marginally by 1% to 18,197 units in December 2015, from 17,980 units sold in December 2014.
Fortuner, Innova, Land Cruiser, Land Cruiser Prado are the models that Toyota Kirloskar Motor sells in India and is facing the heat due to the ban.
The company's sales dropped 11% in December 2015 to 10,442 units, as against 11,738 units sold in December 2014.
Other car makers impacted by the judgement include Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Tata Motors.
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