National Green Tribunal fines Volkswagon for emission cheating devices

On 15 January 2019, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) fined the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagon (VW) Rs. 171.34 crore for installing emission cheating devices on its vehicles. The amount was proposed by an expert panel estimating the health costs of nitrogen oxide gases emitted by VW vehicles using the city of New Delhi as base.

In 2015, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) found that VW vehicles were emitting 1.1 to 2.6 times the allowed quantity of emissions under Bharat Standards VI. VW soon recalled over 323 thousand vehicles purportedly to fix the emission software.

VW has disputed the NGT order but the bench refused to stay the order and instead proposed that the NGT expand its scope to other automotive manufacturers.

The scandal, popularly known as “dieselgate” has witnessed VW suffer fines and legal action across many countries, including the US, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Australia etc. and even fraud and conspiracy charges against VW management.

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