Supreme Court asks Centre to respond plea for electric vehicles

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to respond to a plea to take adequate steps for adopting electric vehicles for public transport in view of zero carbon emission.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant also mulled over forming a committee to suggest measures for clean fuel. The court asked advocate Prashant Bhushan to serve a copy of petition jointly filed by NGO CPIL and Bengaluru-based Sita Ram Jindal Foundation to the counsel of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways had repeatedly spoken about it.

The counsel said a scheme was formulated to curb air pollution and restrict carbon emission which was a major cause of global warming. He said infrastructure facilities for proper charging batteries of EV also needed to be developed.

In March 2019, the top court had admitted the PIL for consideration.

The National E-Mobility Mission Plan, 2020 made several recommendations for the adoption of electric vehicles in government fleets and public transportation, subsidies to consumers, tax incentives and policy incentives and requisite charging infrastructure by mandating fast and normal charging points in apartment buildings, parking lots, government offices, malls etc.

The petitioner pointed to the failure of government policy to provide for adoption of electric vehicles in the country in light of the serious impact of fossil fuel-based vehicles on global warming, climate change, and air pollution.