Meeting must to cut GST on air purifiers, govt tells Delhi HC

The Centre on Friday told the Delhi High Court that any meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council to consider a reduction or abolition of GST on air purifiers can be held only in physical mode and not through video-conferencing, while seeking time to file a detailed response to a public interest litigation seeking to classify air purifiers as medical devices and scrap the 18 per cent tax levy.

The submission was made before a Vacation Bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan and Justice Vinod Kumar in a PIL filed by advocate Kapil Madan, which argues that air purifiers cannot be treated as luxury goods in a city grappling with extreme air pollution and should instead be recognised as a public health necessity.

Recording the submissions of the parties, the court directed the Union of India to file a counter affidavit within 10 days, granting liberty to the petitioner to file a rejoinder thereafter. The matter has been listed for further hearing on January 5.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General N Venkatraman, appearing for the Centre, raised objections to the maintainability of the PIL and flagged what he described as concerns surrounding the nature of the petition. He told the court that the Centre had held an urgent internal meeting on the issue and needed to place its position on record through a detailed affidavit.

The law officer submitted that the GST Council is a constitutional body comprising the Union Finance Minister and representatives of all states and Union Territories, and its decisions require a prescribed voting process that, under the applicable regulations, can only take place in a physical meeting. He said virtual deliberations were not contemplated for such decision-making.

The ASG further cautioned that judicial directions in the matter could disrupt an established constitutional process, pointing out that a parliamentary standing committee had already taken up the issue of GST on air purifiers in December. He said the Centre was not committing at this stage to either reducing or retaining the tax rate and needed time to examine the issue comprehensively.

The court was also apprised that the price of air purifiers ranges from Rs 10,000-12,000 to nearly Rs 60,000, raising concerns about affordability in a public health emergency such as Delhi’s air pollution crisis.

Earlier this week, a coordinate Bench had orally observed that the prevailing air quality situation warranted urgent consideration of tax relief and had directed the GST Council to convene a meeting at the earliest to decide whether GST on air purifiers should be reduced or abolished.

While issuing notice in the PIL on Wednesday, the court had indicated a prima facie view that air purifiers could be placed in the 5 per cent GST bracket.

Responding to the Centre’s objections, the petitioner argued that air purifiers were being taxed under an incorrect category and drew attention to GST notifications relating to breathing and medical devices, contending that air purifiers ought to fall within the lower tax slab applicable to essential medical equipment.

The Bench, however, clarified that it could not reach a final conclusion without examining the Centre’s response and emphasised that its earlier observations were only prima facie in nature.

Reiterating its position, the Centre said it was open to treating the PIL as a representation before the GST Council but maintained that a counter affidavit would be filed even on the issue of convening a Council meeting, reiterating that such a meeting could only be held physically.