Volkswagen India fined Rs. 500 crore for violating diesel emissions norms in India
The National Green Tribunal slapped a fine of Rs 500 crore on German auto major Volkswagen for damaging the environment through the use of “cheat device” in its diesel cars in India. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the carmaker to deposit the amount within two months.
The tribunal enhanced the compensation amount of Rs. 171.34 crore, which was recommended by a NGT- appointed committee, as a means of “creating deterrence.”
Volkswagen India has maintained that it did not use any “cheat device”—a software that activates the engine’s emissions controls only during laboratory testing. However, in December 2017, it recalled 340,000 vehicles of 13 models with EA 189 diesel engines for technical updates.
The NGT on November 16, 2018 had said that use of ‘cheat device’ by Volkswagen in diesel cars in India leads to inference of environmental damage and had directed it to deposit an interim amount of Rs 100 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
It had also constituted a joint team of representatives of the CPCB, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, which had recommended Rs 171.34-crore fine on Volkswagen as “health damages” for causing air pollution in Delhi due to excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
The expert committee in its report has estimated that Volkswagen cars released approximately 48.678 tonnes of NOx in 2016 in the national capital.
The tribunal was hearing pleas filed by Ailawadi, a school teacher, and a few others seeking ban on the sale of Volkswagen vehicles for alleged violation of emission norms. A ‘cheat’ or ‘defeat device’ is a software in diesel engines to manipulate emission tests by changing the performance of the cars globally.
With NGT’s fine, India joins a select group of countries that has penalized Volkswagen in the “dieselgate” scandal, after it admitted in late 2015 that it rigged diesel vehicles to bypass emissions tests in the US, with a potential impact on about 11 million vehicles worldwide.
