Delhi HC asks Centre why GST on air purifiers can’t be lowered
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre why it cannot reduce the GST charged on air purifiers to make it affordable for the common man in view of the worsening air quality in the national capital and nearby areas.
The court’s query came after the counsel for the Centre submitted that the GST Council is a constitutional body and it is no longer a unilateral levy of Delhi. It is a federal levy in all over India so all 30 states and union territories have to agree and involves union finance minister as its member.
Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, representing the Centre, said voting has to be done physically and it cannot be done through video conferencing and added that the government will file an extremely detailed counter affidavit in the matter.
A vacation bench of Justices Vikas Mahajan and Vinod Kumar granted 10 days' time to the central government to file its reply to the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on January 9.
“But the court's concern was that, having regard to the situation in Delhi and surrounding areas, why the goods and services tax (GST) should not be reduced from 18 percent to 5 percent.
“Whatever way you want to do you, may do that and find a way out. The price range is starting from Rs 10-12,000 and goes up to Rs 60,000, it is beyond the reach of common man. Why not bring it down to a reasonable level which is in the reach of a common man,” the bench said.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the central government to classify air purifiers as "medical devices" and reduce the goods and services tax (GST) to the five per cent slab. Air purifiers are currently taxed at 18 per cent.
The petition by advocate Kapil Madan said purifiers cannot be treated as luxury items in view of the "extreme emergency crisis" caused by severe air pollution in Delhi.
During the hearing, the bench told the petitioner that in the last hearing also, the court was with him because the issue raised is such that “everybody is concerned”.
Agreeing to this, the ASG said, “certainly milords our hearts are there, no doubt”.
He said this matter was deliberated at the highest level involving the finance minister and they had an urgent meeting on Thursday but have some concerns with this writ petition.
The law officer said if the petitioner wants this petition to be treated as a representation by the GST Council through the secretariat, the court may pass an order today itself.
If the petitioner wants to contest the petition, we want to file an extremely detailed counter affidavit. It’s a loaded petition and we really want to know who is behind it, he added.
“Two prayers have nothing to do with GST. Health Ministry is not a party to the petition and a prayer is sought regarding it….
“Somebody wants a monopoly in air purifiers, we don't know. We are really concerned about it. Only on December 12, 2025, the parliamentary standing committee passed the proposal to look into the matter of GST but MoEF is not a party. Standing committee is a constitutional arm under the legislature and there is a process involved and how can the process be scuttled,” the ASG submitted.
He urged the court to grant some time to file a counter affidavit as they were not able to react in two days’ time.
Petitioner Madan said "Maybe the counsel appearing for the Centre has not seen the notification by which slabs have been imposed… I will say that on bare reading of notification, I will convince the court that they are taxing air purifiers in the wrong slab”.
To this, the bench said today the court cannot say that they are taxing it under a wrong slab without calling for a counter affidavit. It said the issue requires deliberations and let it go before the roster bench.
Madan read the notification concerned and said, "I have shown an entry which talks about breathing devices. All medical devices are falling in schedule 1".
The court asked the ASG as to what is the difficulty in conducting the meeting of the GST Council and then they can take a call.
The ASG said, “This will open up a pandora box. The committee has recommended something to us. That’s the process. We are not saying anything at the moment, whether we will reduce or not. I am not giving any commitment…. We are scared from the constitutional perceptive. Let this be converted into representation and sent to the Council."
On December 24, the court had directed the GST Council to meet at the earliest and consider lowering or abolishing GST on air purifiers.
The matter was listed today to inform the court as to when the Council can meet and whether it was possible for the Council to meet virtually, if not physically.
Earlier, the high court had expressed displeasure over the authorities doing nothing to grant exemption from taxes on air purifiers in this "emergency situation" when the air quality index (AQI) is 'very poor'.
The court had noted the petitioner's contention that air purifiers qualify as medical devices in terms of the notification of February 2020 which has been issued under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
The petitioner further said that on medical devices, GST was being charged at five percent whereas it was 18 percent for air purifiers. He sought a direction to the authorities to consider charging five percent on air purifiers as well considering the ever worsening air condition in Delhi and nearby areas.
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India-US interim trade pact likely to be operationalised in April: Goyal
New Delhi (PTI): An interim trade agreement between India and the US is likely to be signed in March and operationalised in April, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.
Earlier this month, India and the US released a joint statement announcing a framework for an interim trade agreement.
To finalise the text of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, the chief negotiators of the two countries will meet in Washington next week.
The three-day meeting between the two teams will begin on February 23.
Goyal told reporters here that the pact is expected to be signed next month and may be implemented in April.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer is likely to visit India in March to sign the agreement.
In an event at the AI Impact Summit here, US Ambassador Sergio Gor said that the India-US trade deal is set to be inked soon.
India on Friday joined the US-led strategic alliance Pax Silica aimed at building a resilient supply chain for critical minerals.
"From the trade deal to Pax Silica to defence cooperation, the potential for our two nations to work together is truly limitless," Gor said in his remarks.
The joint statement, released separately by the two nations earlier this month, lays down the contours of the deal. These now need to be translated into a legal agreement, for which the two sides will meet next week.
The Indian team will be headed by chief negotiator Darpan Jain, who is a joint secretary in the Commerce Ministry.
Under the pact, both sides would extend duty concessions to each other on a number of goods traded between them.
The US has announced that it will reduce the reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. It has already eliminated the 25 per cent punitive tariffs on India for buying Russian crude oil. The move is a big relief to the domestic industry as they were facing steep 50 per cent tariffs by the US.
Goyal expressed hope that an executive order to cut the tariffs to 18 per cent would be issued by the Trump administration this month.
While speaking at the launch of seven components of the Rs 25,060-crore export promotion mission (EPM), Goyal said the India-US trade agreement has opened huge business opportunities for Indian exporters.
He said that India has protected all the sensitive sectors, including agriculture.
"Now once that rate (50 per cent tariff) comes out to lower than any of our competitors, we are lower than anybody else who is an emerging market or a developing economy, and plus having safeguarded all the sensitive sectors, it's a great win-win solution for both countries," he said.
The minister said that labour-intensive sectors like apparel, leather and marine were suffering from high tariffs.
He also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for raising concerns about the deal.
Stepping up his attack on the government over the interim US trade deal, Gandhi on Friday said the answer to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to a deal, where India gives so much and appears to get so little, and makes an "abject surrender" lies in the "grips" and "chokes" placed on him.
Gandhi questioned that why the government has agreed to increase US imports by USD 100 billion a year without a reciprocal promise.
"I think he (Gandhi) lives in a world very detached from reality. All of you here are exporters. Were you happy with the 50 per cent tariff? Was your business prospering? Were your jobs safe? Was Tirupur able to export apparel? What was happening to your leather industry where lakhs of workers are working? What had happened to our marine seafood exports? All labour-intensive sectors were suffering," he said.
He added that businesses will prosper at the 18 per cent rate that India negotiated under the trade pact with the US.
It will help boost exports of gems and jewellery, and spices also, he said. On imports from the US, Goyal said India needs high-tech devices like GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), coking coal and aircrafts.
"We need airplanes in India. As our steel production doubles and is slated to double from 140 million to 300 million tonnes in the next 5-6 years, huge investments, almost Rs 10 lakh crores investments are in the pipeline in the steel industry. That steel will need coking coal.
"You are all businessmen in this room. Is it better to have two sources of a product or six sources of a product?," he asked.
India needs these products from trusted partners for its economic growth, the minister said, adding that exports will play an important role in the effort to push the country's growth.
"...very clearly, India is on the right track. We make sure that our sensitive defensive interests remain protected. All our agricultural produce in India remains protected from the markets where there is any competition. We ensure that we open our market for consumer benefit," he said.
Through this deal, he said, India has ensured to purchase high-quality pharma products, "super expensive and complicated" medical devices will come to India at lower or zero import duty.
"We are serving 1.4 billion consumers who are also a stakeholder in the development," he added.
According to the joint statement, India has expressed its intention to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal over the next five years.
The reciprocal tariffs on India are now among the lowest compared to its competitor nations.
These countries include China (35 per cent), Thailand (19 per cent), Myanmar (40 per cent), Cambodia (19 per cent), Indonesia (19 per cent), Brazil (50 per cent), and Vietnam (20 per cent).
During the April-January period of this fiscal year, the country's exports to the US increased 5.85 per cent to USD 72.46 billion, while imports rose 13.87 per cent to USD 43.92 billion.
