Calculate the harm: Court seeks Centre’s reply on slashing GST on air purifiers

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 the issue of lowering or abolishing 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%.