Awaiting ARAI certification, Pune-based Bajaj Auto says it's finally ready to roll out its much-delayed quadricycle RE60, with the Supreme Court lifting stay by various high courts over creation of a new vehicle category by the government. "Consequent on lifting of the stay orders by the Supreme Court, ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) has re-started the stalled certification processes; the tests are completed, and report making and other administrative processes are going on," the company said in its annual report for 2014-15.
"Thus, the product, the factory, the manpower, the processes and the vendor base are ready. Once the certification is in hand, we are ready to roll." Bajaj Auto had showcased the RE60 in 2012 as a mini four-wheeler powered by a 200-cc rear-mounted petrol engine for intra-city urban transport targeting three wheeler customers. Although it was ready for launch, Bajaj Auto said: "RE60 was mired in legal tangles created by vested interests filing multiple petitions in various high courts, questioning the government process in creation of this new category."
Some of the high courts had, pending detailed hearings, ordered stay of the government notification in the interim, while some others admitted the petitions, but did not find merit to grant a stay, it added. "In the face of stay orders, ARAI, the testing agency, kept the approval and related processes in suspended abeyance," the company said in the report.
The central government has since moved the Supreme Court to get these multiple cases consolidated in the apex court, it added. "The apex court has accordingly stayed the proceedings before various high courts and transferred all these matters to itself. It had also ordered a 'stay on the various stay orders' passed by the high courts of Karnataka, AP and Telangana and Madras. The matter is now posted for hearing before the Supreme Court on July 15, 2015," the company said.
