A “revised timetable” in this regard will be presented before the Calcutta High Court on Friday, the government announced on Thursday. According to officials, the government would wait for the court’s directive in this regard.

“If a deadline is fixed, we will have to honour it and the failure in not being able to do it will trigger a lot of flak. That is why we are not going to seek any fresh deadline. We will submit a timeline on the phasing out of the auto-rickshaws,” said Ardhendu Sen, state Home Secretary.

On Tuesday, Minister for Transport and Sports Subhas Chakraborty had said the government would seek an extension of the two-stroke auto deadline.

On Friday, the state government, which is a party with another petitioner, a transport owners’ union, which sought the extension of the deadline, will file the revised timetable in the High Court.

Along with the auto-rickshaws, the state government will also submit a revised timetable for phasing out of all other 15-year-old vehicles.

“The court may or may not accept our arguments. We will have to abide by whatever they say in this regard,” Sen said.

Major auto-rickshaw operators’ unions have refused to comment on the latest turnaround by the government.