When the Diesel Gate scandal first broke through to main-stream media, the sheer scale of Volkswagen’s transgressions was what awed the world. Starting in the US, the scandal went on to be one of the largest global scandals ever. Volkswagen themselves paid billions of dollars in fines, and then realigned their entire business model to denouncing diesel’ in favour of cleaner, renewable power sources for their future cars.
A major part of VWs global sales meant that it was only a matter of time before the Scandals repercussions reached Indian shores. Preemptively, Volkswagen India had laid their cards on the table declaring that their research had found the almost 3.23 lakh Cars already running on Indian roads were fitted with the infamous ‘defeat device’, that was designed to provide fudged scores when it was tested for emissions. At the time, they had also furnished a plan to recall the concerned vehicles, but it is unclear as to how many vehicles have gone through the recall purpose. The VW India website happens to have a Diesel Service Action tab that applies to EA 189 motors only that could be for this purpose. No official word on the recall has come from VW for this replacement. The device can only work when the emissions are tested in a stationary car, but when investigators tested the same car on the move they found that they were a few hundred times over the tested limit.
Now, Government appointed Environmental watchdog the NGT has directed that Volkswagen deposit an interim fee of Rs 100 crore with the CPCB, ahead of the case that alleges that the German Auto Maker was using the defeat device in their test vehicles. A bench led by NGT Chair Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has formed a committee to investigate the matter. The committee will comprise of officials from Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Automotive Research Association of India to calculate the actual quantum of the environmental loss. The Tribunal has directed the committee to submit their report on the matter within a month. The NGT has also asked that the company, as well as the petitioner, plead their cases to the panel in the next seven days with their contentions on the matter. The tribunal raised the issue following pleas filled by school teacher Saloni Ailawadi and a few others seeking a ban on the sale of Volkswagen vehicles for alleged violation of emission norms.
With Inputs from PTI
