E20 row: Supreme Court refuses petition seeking direction for disclosure of percentage of ethanol content in petrol

E20 row: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a petition seeking a direction that petrol pumps must label the percentage of ethanol blended in petrol being dispensed at fuel stations and that the ethanol content must be printed on fuel bills and receipts. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale dismissed the plea and granted liberty to petitioner Narendra Kumar Goswami to approach the concerned or jurisdictional High Court for relief.

The petition had sought mandatory and uniform disclosure of the exact ethanol percentage on every petrol dispensing nozzle at fuel stations, and a direction that every fuel invoice, receipt or bill should clearly and legibly mention the percentage of ethanol in the petrol sold. It had also sought further directions on vehicle compatibility and the impact of E20 fuel across the existing vehicle fleet.

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On Monday, the bench said it was not inclined to entertain the PIL under Article 32, which provides the right to approach the Supreme Court directly. In its order, the bench said the petitioner must approach the competent authority. The court also told Goswami, who appeared in person, to raise his contentions before the High Court.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, submitted that the matter was a proxy litigation and said a petition on a similar issue had already been dismissed by the court. "The petitioner wants the government of India to be answerable to him," the Attorney General submitted.

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Goswami contended that he had the right to know the content of the petrol being sold at fuel pumps. "Not only me but citizens at large should be informed about the composition of the fuel given to them," he submitted. The petitioner, an advocate, said his plea raised substantial questions of law, including whether the right to life and personal liberty under the Constitution includes a consumer's right to know the precise ethanol content in fuel and its compatibility with the customer's vehicle.

The petition also questioned whether compulsory E20 sale without lower-ethanol alternatives for pre-E20 vehicles violated Articles 14 and 300A, and whether the absence of pump-level and invoice-level disclosure violated the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. "Can the State compel a citizen to purchase a chemically altered fuel without disclosing its exact ethanol content and without telling him whether his vehicle is compatible with it? The petitioner says the answer must be an emphatic no," the plea stated.

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Goswami had further sought a direction to the respondents, including the Centre and oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., to prepare and publish within a stipulated time an official public database searchable by manufacturer, model, engine type and year of manufacture, indicating the suitability or otherwise of various ethanol blends for each vehicle.

He also sought the constitution of an independent expert committee with representatives from the ministries of petroleum and natural gas, road transport and highways, the Bureau of Indian Standards and others, including independent automobile engineers, to examine and submit a public report on the real-world vehicle compatibility of E20 across the existing fleet.