Centre to retain GST on concentrators
The Hindu
Delhi High Court pushes back, saying that the government should review its resistance at such a time
The Central government should review its resistance to exempting theimported for personal use, the observed on Thursday after the Finance Ministry conveyed its inability to accept the Court’s order issued on Wednesday. A High Court Bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh also critiqued the Centre’s PR exercise amidst the pandemic, and mooted that it was time to be more humane, while mentioning that even President Joe Biden had dropped the U.S. administration’s resistance to intellectual property waivers for COVID-19 vaccines after “good sense prevailed”. The petitioner in the case, a senior citizen whose nephew had shipped him a concentrator as a gift, had challenged a May 1 notification that levied 12% GST on such imports from 28% earlier. He invoked Article 21 of the Constitution, which enshrines the fundamental right to life.
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