New Delhi: The Centre Friday assured the Delhi High Court that it will examine a December report by a parliamentary standing committee that had suggested GST on air purifiers be either abolished or lowered. The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought directions to classify air purifiers as medical devices and slash the GST rates on them.
The petitioner had cited this report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, which dealt with the issue of air pollution in Delhi NCR, in court submissions.
After briefly hearing the PIL filed by advocate Kapil Madan, who appeared as the petitioner in person and asked for GST on air purifiers to be reduced to 5 per cent instead of the current 18 per cent), a bench of Chief Justice D. K. Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Karia took on record the assurance by the Department of Revenue, which exercises monitoring, supervision and administration of matters relating to all direct and indirect taxes.
“The learned Additional Solicitor General on instructions states that the recommendation made by the parliamentary committee will be processed once it reaches the Department of Revenue,” the division or two-judge bench ruled, while listing the case for further hearing for 19 March.
Speaking to ThePrint, advocate Kapil Madan said, “We are confident that we will be able to convince the court that the levy of 18 per cent GST is illegal based on an arbitrary classification. and as such unconstitutional.”
“Currently, under the existing framework, they are billing air purifiers under 8421 (GST code), which includes centrifuges, filtering or purifying machinery and apparatus, but we are saying that according to a September 17 notification issued by the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Revenue, it should fall under 9020 (GST code), which includes other breathing appliances and gas masks, excluding protective masks having neither mechanical parts nor replaceable filters.”
During Friday’s hearing, the court also asked the petitioners to file their rejoinder within a week’s time. At the outset, however, the ASG, who was representing the central government’s Department of Revenue said that the issue was going beyond the scope of GST, and into the realm of policy. “How can we bring these air purifiers under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, without even impleading the health ministry?”
Parliamentary committee’s report
The report in question was the 401st report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. It dealt with the issue of air pollution in Delhi and NCR and the steps taken by various agencies for its mitigation.
“The committee finds it contradictory that while government efforts to mitigate the country’s severe air pollution crisis have consistently fallen short, a prohibitive tax is being levied on a critical device that citizens are forced to rely on for personal protection,” the report had said.
Imposing such a tax effectively monetises a public health failure, the report also said, adding that citizens of a country should not be penalised for trying to save themselves from a catastrophic situation.
Significantly, the report added that the government should take a sympathetic view of the situation and either abolish or reduce the GST on air purifiers and HEPA filters.
This report was presented before both houses of Parliament 12 December 2025. This was exactly 12 days before the present case was listed, the Centre had also pointed out in its counter affidavit tabled before the court this week.
The larger issue & Centre’s counter
The Centre opposed the PIL seeking directions to classify air purifiers as “medical devices” and reduce the GST rate, saying judicial intervention in matters of tax are constitutionally impermissible.
The affidavit said it is settled law that courts do not substitute themselves for constitutionally-designated decision-makers, particularly in matters involving economic policy and fiscal structuring.
“Any direction by this court to modify GST rates, convene a meeting of the GST council or compel the GST council to consider or adopt a particular outcome would amount to the court stepping into the shoes of the GST council, thereby exercising functions that the Constitution has consciously and exclusively entrusted to the GST council,” the affidavit said, while adding that such an exercise would violate the doctrine of separation of powers.
In a nutshell, the Centre said that this was a matter in the realm of policy, and not for the judiciary to decide. If courts were to issue directions on GST rates or compel specific recommendations, the GST council would be reduced to a “mere rubber stamp”, the government also argued, while contending that the present PIL is a “colourable” and “motivated attempt” to secure regulatory reclassification under the guise of public interest.
The larger case, however, sought to bring down GST rates imposed on air purifiers in the country, in light of growing concerns around “very poor” AQI. The plea had argued that air purifiers qualify as medical devices under a February 2020 notification issued under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Moreover, the petitioners had also argued that 5 percent GST was being charged on medical devices, while air purifiers were being taxed at 18 percent. They also sought a direction to authorities to consider reducing tax rates on purifiers to 5 percent.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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