Delhi high court on Wednesday called out the inaction on air pollution, questioning 18 per cent GST on air purifiers amid public health crisis as the city continues to record ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ Air quality Index.
The high court observed that every citizen requires fresh air.
“If you can’t ensure that, the minimum you can do is reduce GST,” ANI news agency quoted the Delhi high court as noting.
The Delhi high court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed seeking directions to the Central government to declare that air-purifiers fall within the category of ‘medical device’ under Medical Devices Rules 2017 thereby, bringing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on it from 18 to 5 percent [Kapil Madan vs Union of India & Ors], according to Bar and Bench.
Delhi’s air pollution
Delhi has been reeling under toxic air and smog for weeks now, necessitating the imposition of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) by the the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) multiple times.
Delhi-NCR is currently under Stage 4 of GRAP.
Delhi’s air quality, however, saw some improvement on Wednesday morning, with the AQI moving to ‘very poor’ from ‘severe’ the day before, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The national capital’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 336 in the morning, as against 415 on Tuesday, the CPCB data showed.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.
