New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday called out the inaction on air pollution, questioning GST on air purifiers (which is currently 18%) amid a public health crisis as the city continues to record ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ Air Quality Index.
A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela told the government reducing taxes – 18 per cent at present, the highest bracket after the system was overhauled in September – was the “minimum” it had to do amid a ‘health emergency’.
“We breathe 21,000 times a day, calculate the harm,” the Delhi High Court said on Wednesday as it sharply questioned the Centre to explain why it cannot slash the GST on air purifiers immediately.
The court appeared in agreement and demanded the government ‘calculate the harm’ being done to the nearly 30 million people who live in Delhi and the national capital region.
The PIL has been filed by advocate Kapil Madan, who has urged the court to direct the Centre to classify air purifiers as medical devices in view of Delhi’s severe air pollution. Air purifiers are currently taxed at 18 per cent.
The petitioner also contends that air purifiers meet the definition of a medical device under a 2020 notification issued by the Centre, performing a critical preventive and physiological-support function by enabling safe respiration and mitigating life-threatening exposure to pollutants.
Levying 18 per cent GST on air purifiers is arbitrary, unreasonable and disproportionate, the plea says, especially when other devices with medically recognised roles attract lower tax rates.
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