‘If you can’t give clean air, cut GST’: Delhi HC flags 18 per cent tax on air purifiers as AQI worsens

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday came down sharply on official inaction over tax relief for air purifiers, questioning why an 18 per cent GST continues to apply even as the city reels under ‘very poor’ air quality levels.

A bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that access to fresh air is a basic necessity and said if authorities are unable to ensure it outdoors, the least they can do is reduce the tax burden on devices that help people breathe safely indoors.

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The court directed the counsel appearing for the authorities to seek instructions on granting a temporary GST exemption and report back at 2.30 pm.

Also Read: From fuel shift to GRAP: Inside the Centre’s plan to clean Delhi’s air

Court questions delay in granting tax relief

The bench first expressed displeasure that no concrete steps had been taken despite the deteriorating air quality. Stressing the urgency of the situation, the judges suggested that even a short-term exemption could offer immediate relief.

“Let the purifiers be provided. That’s the minimum you can do. When will you come back?…. Even if it is for temporary, give exemption for next one week or one month… Consider this an emergency situation, only for temporarily. Take instructions and come back.”

“We will place it before the vacation bench only for compliance. As we speak, we all breathe. You know how many times we breathe in a day, at least 21,000 times a day. Just calculate the harm you are doing to your lungs just by breathing 21,000 times a day, and that’s involuntary,” said the bench said.

The matter, the bench said, would be placed before the vacation bench for compliance.

PIL seeks classification of air purifiers as medical devices

The observations came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Kapil Madan, seeking directions to the central government to classify air purifiers as “medical devices” and reduce the GST rate to five per cent.

Currently, air purifiers attract an 18 per cent GST, a rate typically applied to non-essential goods.

The petition argued that in the context of Delhi’s severe air pollution, air purifiers cannot be treated as luxury items. It maintained that access to clean indoor air has become indispensable for health and survival.

‘Financially inaccessible for large sections’

The plea contended that the high tax rate makes air purifiers unaffordable for large segments of the population, effectively denying them a basic health safeguard.

“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 petition stated.

The court is expected to take up the issue again after the authorities place their response on record.