The Delhi High Court on Wednesday called out the Central government over the air pollution crisis in the national capital and directed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to convene a meeting and decide to either slash or abolish GST on air purifiers at the earliest, as the city continues to record ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela expressed displeasure over the authorities doing nothing to grant exemption from taxes on air purifiers in this “emergency situation” when the air in Delhi is ‘very poor’, news agency PTI reported.
The bench said that if the authorities cannot provide clean air for citizens to breathe, then the least it can do is to reduce the GST
on air purifiers, which are currently taxed at 18%.
“This is the minimum that you can do. Every citizen requires fresh air. If you can’t do it, minimum you can do is reduce GST. Give an exemption for 15 days on a temporary basis. Treat this situation as an emergency. Take instructions and tell us now. Tell us now when will you come back with instructions,” the bench said as quoted by Bar&Bench.
The High Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the central government to classify air purifiers as “medical devices” and reduce the GST to the 5% slab. Air purifiers are currently taxed at 18%.
The petition by advocate Kapil Madan said that purifiers cannot be treated as luxury items in view of the “extreme emergency crisis” caused by severe air pollution in Delhi.
It contended that access to clean indoor air has become indispensable for health and survival.
“Imposition of GST at the highest slab upon air-purifiers, a device that has become indispensable for securing minimally safe indoor air, renders such equipment financially inaccessible to large segments of the population and thereby inflicts an arbitrary, unreasonable, and constitutionally impermissible burden,” the plea said.
The bench listed the matter for December 26 to enable the counsel for the authorities to inform the court as to when the GST council can meet.
Delhi Pollution Crisis
Delhi and its adjoining National Capital Region (NCR) are grappling with severe air pollution. However, Delhi’s air quality saw some improvement on Wednesday morning, with the AQI moving to ‘very poor’ from ‘severe’ the day before, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The national capital’s AQI stood at 336 in the morning, as against 415 on Tuesday, the CPCB data showed.
Of Delhi’s 40 air quality monitoring stations, 36 recorded AQI in the ‘very poor’ category. Nehru Nagar recorded the highest reading of 392, the CPCB’s Sameer app showed.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.
(With inputs from agencies)
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