New Delhi: National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday directed on German auto major Volkswagen to deposit Rs 100 crore within 24 hours as per its November 16, 2018 order.
In November, a four-member committee formed by the NGT 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.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has directed Volkswagen to give an undertaking and deposit money by 5 pm on Friday.
The expert committee in its report had estimated that Volkswagen cars released approximately 48.678 tonnes of NOx in 2016 in the national capital.
The panel was formed by the NGT on November 16 last year to give its expert opinion on the subject whether the manufacturer has exceeded the prescribed environmental norms and fair estimate of the damage caused to the environment.
The committee has told the NGT that automobiles are a major source of nitrogen oxide emissions and nitrogen dioxide is the most prevalent source form of nitrogen oxide.
Volkswagen India had in December 2015 announced the recall of 3,23,700 lakh vehicles in India to fix the emission software after ARAI conducted tests on some models and found that their on-road emissions were 1.1 times to 2.6 times higher than the applicable BS-IV norms. The company, however, had said that the recall in India was purely voluntary in nature as it did not face any charges regarding violating emission norms in India unlike in the US.
The automobile giant had admitted to the use of ‘defeat device’ in 11 million diesel engine cars sold in the US, Europe and other global markets to manipulate emission test results.
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