The legal battle on the issue between the transport operators and the state government is on in full swing in the Calcutta High Court.

The High Court order banning such vehicles came on July 18, 2008, as per an environment department notification issued last July. Transport operators filed an appeal, now pending before a Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice.

Plus, in May 2005, the transport department had issued a notification, banning public vehicles of the same vintage unless they followed the Bharat Stage III emission norms. Challenged in the High Court, that case is pending before another Division Bench.

The transport department notification was issued keeping in mind the negative impact of such vehicles on the environment. The ban was to take effect from December 31, 2005.

Thereafter, the Bengal Bus Syndicate had filed a writ petition in the High Court, contending that the state government was not authorised to issue such a notification under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

After a series of hearings, on March 15, 2006, Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas had set aside the notification, with an observation that the state government could not issue such a notification.

The state government filed an appeal challenging the order. The case is likely to come up for hearing before Justices Pratap Kumar Roy and Manik Mohan Sarkar on January 21.