Dieselgate scandal shockwaves hit Volkswagen in India.
Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal’s days have not left it behind. Their effort to trick the emissions test, when caught, resulted in large scale defaming of the company. Volkswagen had to pay billions of dollars in fines and had to restructure their entire business model to replace diesel with cleaner, renewable sources of energy. This went out to become one of the largest scandals in the world.
Now, the after-effects of this scandal are coming back to Volkswagen from its Indian market. At the time of the scandal, Volkswagen India had announced the rolling back of all cars that were fitted with the infamous ‘defeat device’.
Back then, the number of cars fitted with such devices was estimated to be about 3.23 lakh vehicles. These vehicles were already running on Indian roads. The device could cheat the test when the car was stationary. When in movement, the car recorded emission levels a few hundred times over the limit.
Volkswagen India had immediately laid out a plan to recall the concerned vehicles. But to date, it is unclear as to how many vehicles have been recalled and refitted.
Now, the NGT, the government-appointed agency looking after such issues has directed Volkswagen to pay a fee of Rs. 100 crores to the CPCB, for the environmental damages caused and for not revealing records of the recalled cars. The bench was led by NGT Chair Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.
The committee formed to investigate 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. The Tribunal has directed the committee to submit their report on the actual impact of the damages caused, within a month.
The NGT has also asked that the company and the petitioner to present themselves in court. In the next seven days, they will be allowed to plead their cases to the panel. The Tribunal raised the issue following complaints a group of people requesting the court to ban sales of Volkswagen vehicles in India for alleged violation of emission norms.
NGT Sues Volkswagen
– NGT asks Volkswagen to pay Rs. 100 crores to the government over emission fraud
– Accounted to 3.23 vehicles on India roads with emission fraud mechanism
– Volkswagen has not made clear how many cars are refitted
