Volkswagen beetled by Rs 500-cr fine for ‘cheating’ emission tests

The National Green Tribunal slapped German auto giant Volkswagen with a fine of Rs 500 crore on Thursday for installing ‘cheat devices’ in its diesel cars and damaging the environment.

The green panel ordered the car manufacturer to deposit the sum within two months with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The four-member bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, also asked the CPCB to utilise the money to improve air quality in the National Capital Region. The order follows a study by a Swiss-based group which ranked Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida — all in NCR — as some of the most polluted cities globally.

The company had already been ordered to pay Rs 100 crore in November as preliminary liability for polluting the air. But the bench ordered for the compensation to be enhanced, noting, “We are unable to accept the objections of the manufacturer…”

During Thursday’s hearing, Volkswagen counsel Pinaki Mishra objected to the tests carried out on the company’s vehicles, saying they were road tests and not lab tests. But the bench referred to the findings of the expert committee it had constituted to assess the health damage caused by the ‘cheat devices’, which could pass pollution checks but cause higher emission of nitrogen compounds on road.

The order was passed on a petition moved by schoolteacher Saloni Ailawadi.

A Volkswagen India spokesperson said it had complied with all relevant emission norms defined in the country and would challenge the order in the Supreme Court.