All Charged Up

The Delhi High Court has stayed a state government order which denied Rs 1.5 lakh subsidy to the customer on the Tata vehicle

- Akarsh Sharma

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), furthermore 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.