However, the warranty would be based on current emission norms of Pollution Under Control (PUC) method and would be an addition to the product warranty issued by an individual manufacturer. Periodic service and maintenance will be carried out at the manufacturer's authorised service centre as per the manu- facturer's guidelines.

The move is a major victory for the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which has been demanding this ever since 1997. Says Ms Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE spokesperson: "Along with the consumers, the manufactures must also be made responsible for the tailpipe emissions." But the issue still remains to be taken to a logical conclusion. The government response is still awaited. Emphasising on the need for an immediate government action, Ms Roychowdhury says: "The government needs to work with the automobile industry to frame a monitoring system to check on-road deterioration." Moreover, criticising the laidback attitude of various ministries, she further adds: "The committee that has been set up under the Central Pollution Control Board to recommend future mass emission norms is not even considering inclusion of emission warranty and recall system or even revision of the prevailing exhaust emission standard."

Besides this, the emission standards will be measured against current emission norms of PUC. These exhaust emission norms were set up in 1990 and still apply uniformly to all generation of vehicles-be it pre-1990 vehicles or Euro 2 complaint vehicles, she adds.

Complaining about the outdated PUC, Ms Roychowdhury says, "PUC system is considered the most fraudulent approach towards pollution control. It was notified way back and has lost its relevance. If the government fails to frame appropriate laws and norms to implement the emissions warranty programme, then the current programme will continue to be pegged on an extremely inadequate PUC programme." According to her, the emission warranty should be enforced in relation to the mass emission standards that manufactures meet at the factory gate. Thereafter, the vehicle emissions should be allowed to deteriorate only by a specific fraction during the useful life of the vehicle. If the sample of the emission of one model deteriorates more than the specified rate, the manufacturer should be asked to recall the entire batch of that car model, repair it at its own costs and return it to the consumers.

"This emission warranty programme is widely practised in countries with more sophisticated inspection and maintenance programmes. Many known cars like Ford Fiesta, Honda Civic 1500, Audi 100 and other have actually been pulled of the road at least once on this account," she adds.

Ms Roychowdhury believes that only an emission warranty system and recall programme will force the manufactures to pay attention to controlling on-road deterioration. She even quotes an example of Sweden where this system has been such a hit that the number of recalls are actually going down as the manufacturers are learning to control on-road deterioration.

It's not only old vehicles that add to pollution. Even new vehicles can do that. A survey conducted in Delhi in 1998 revealed that 40 per cent of the new cars on road had failed the PUC tests. On the basis of these facts, Ms Roychowdhury says, "Emission from vehicles on-road are excessive not because of the bad maintenance practices alone, but more so because of the dirty fuel and poor engine technology."

CSE now urges the government to set the standards for the new system and make it non-punitive for initial two years. And when the industry gains sufficient experience in detecting technical snags in their vehicles, on-road measures can be made more stringent.