By Akarsh Sharma with India Legal Bureau
The Delhi High Court has stayed the order of Deputy Commissioner, NCT, Transport Department, which had suspended the listing of Tata’s Nexon-Electric Vehicle from the list of models eligible for subsidy as per the state’s electric-vehicle policy.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva observed that it was not necessary to suspend the vehicle from the list. He said: “Nothing has been prima facie shown as to how the policy or the scheme of the policy FAME i.e. faster adoption and manufacturing of (hybrid) electric vehicles is going to be defeated in case the manufacturer does not meet the specification as certified by ARAI though it is a requirement…
“Court is prima facie of view that in case this impugned order is not stayed grave prejudice is likely to be caused to the petitioner (Tata Motors), further more the impugned order also makes serious expressions on the petitioner which are not substantiated by any concrete material before the concerned officer. Hence, the impugned order is stayed,” said the Court.
Tata Nexon-EV was adopted as part of the scheme of the Delhi government where a purchase incentive of Rs 1.5 lakh is offered to the buyer of battery operated cars by the initiative of the AAP government. This is to promote the mass adaptation of these new vehicles for a cleaner and greener environment.
The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) issued a certificate of compliance to the Central Vehicle Rules for Tata Nexon EV XM (and XZ+) on January 14, 2020 and the EV policy was adopted by the state government on August 7, 2020.
The grievance of the petitioner, Tata Motors (TM), was that one Rajesh Yadav, owner of a Nexon EV, wrote an email to its customer care and requested that the car purchased by him may be returned and the amount refunded as the vehicle had broken down. However, the complaint was resolved by the manufacturer. But the owner claimed that the EV car did not provide more than 200 km per charge, even though the manufacturer has claimed that it could travel 312 km on full charge.
A letter was sent to the concerned department and a show cause notice was issued on TM in the ground that the complainant’s vehicle failed to provide optimal range to him, as promised by the OEM. The concerned authority of the manufacturer was called by the deputy commissioner to submit a detailed reply to the notice.
Although the reply was submitted, the deputy commissioner still directed suspension of the listing of Nexon from the eligible list of EVs under the Delhi EV Policy 2020. According to it, the government of NCT is to provide subsidy to registered owners of the first 1,000 electric cars in the state.
Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for TM, submitted that the Nexon car is the highest selling EV (65 percent of all EV vehicles sold) and was even certified as the Green Car of the Year. He also submitted that in case the impugned order was not stayed, it would not only hamper the sale of the EV, but damage the petitioner’s reputation.
The senior counsel further contended that when the vehicle met the eligibility conditions and was awarded under the policy condition, it cannot be revoked unless the policy itself is revoked or the petitioner has been found to break the eligibility conditions. It was never alleged in the impugned order that the petitioner’s vehicle does not meet the EV policy conditions of 140km per charge.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma for the centre and Standing Counsel Ramesh Singh for the Delhi government asked for time to file a reply. However, the matter was heard by the bench at length on the issue of grant of interim order. It was observed by the bench that both the counsel did not contend that the vehicle does not meet the eligibility criteria of 140km per charge.
It was further submitted by the counsel that the grant of subsidy and withdrawal is the discretion of the government and the court cannot direct the government to grant the subsidy unless the government decides so. It was further contended that the decision to delist the vehicle for subsidy was taken keeping in view the larger public policy which is to promote “FAME”. It was also contented by both the government counsel that the petitioner has made a false claim that the vehicle achieves the efficiency of 312 km per charge, whereas as per the complaint, the vehicle provides not more than 200 km per charge.
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Ramesh Singh also contended that the vehicle (Nexon) that was sent for testing to ARAI was a prototype and what was being manufactured seemed different from it. The certificate which was granted by the ARAI was for limited purpose of registration and does not preclude the government from doing a quality surveillance to ensure appliance with the representation made by the manufacturer. Clause 7 of the operational guidelines for delivery of demand incentive under Delhi’s policy of EV 2020, empowers the government to depute its representatives to visit the premises of the OEM for the purpose of inspection.
The Delhi High Court held that none of the submissions raised by both the government counsel were sustainable because, as per the policy and central motor vehicles rules, the eligibility criteria for grant of listing was 140 km per charge. The statutory body constituted under Rule 126 of the Motor Vehicle rules is ARAI. ARAI has given a certificate that the vehicle submitted for testing meets the requirement of 312 km per charge.