New Delhi, January 17: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday asked German automobile giant Volkswagen (VW) to deposit Rs 100 crore by 5 PM on Friday, i.e. January 18 in connection with the emission case. According to a tweet by ANI, the NGT told the automobile giant if it fails to do so, the company will have to face punitive actions including the arrest of carmaker's country Managing Director (MD) and seizure of all properties in India.

On January 15, a four-member committee formed by the NGT recommended Rs 171.34 crore fine on Volkswagen India as 'health damages' for causing air pollution in Delhi due to excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from its cars. It must be noted that Nitrogen oxide is a smog-forming pollutant linked to heart and lung disease. According to a report by PTI, the expert committee in its report has estimated that Volkswagen cars released approximately 48.678 tonnes of NOx in 2016 in the national capital. Volkswagen Emission Scandal: Over 372,000 German Drivers Join Legal Action.

The matter was heard today before a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel. The four-member panel comprising of ARAI director Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Dr Nitin Labhsetwar, who is chief scientist of CSIR-NEERI, Ramakant Singh director, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Prashant Gargava, member secretary of CPCB was formed by the NGT on 16th November 2018.

The committee has told the NGT that automobiles are a major source of nitrogen oxide emissions and nitrogen dioxide is the most prevalent source form of nitrogen oxide. Reports inform that the penalty was determined on the basis of the 3.27 lakh Volkswagen cars in India that had deceit software installed.

In December 2015, Volkswagen India had announced the recall of 3,23,700 lakh vehicles across the country to fix the emission software after ARAI conducted tests on some models and found that their on-road emissions were 1.1 times to 2.6 times higher than the applicable BS-IV norms.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2019 11:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).