"Provide Clean Air Or...": Delhi High Court's GST And Air Purifier Demand

'Either provide citizens with fresh air or reduce the GST on air purifiers' - the Delhi High Court handed down this ultimatum to the federal government Wednesday morning, as the national capital and surrounding regions continue to choke under a blanket of toxic smog.

A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela told the government reducing taxes - 18 per cent at present, the highest bracket after the system was overhauled in September - was the "minimum" it had to do amid a 'health emergency'.

The court was hearing a petition filed by an advocate, Kapil Madan, asking for air purifiers to be listed as a 'medical device' and the tax on them to be dropped to five per cent. Air purifiers, the petitioner argued, had become "indispensable for securing minimally safe indoor air".

The high tax, however, means purifiers are "financially inaccessible to large segments of the population... inflicts an arbitrary, unreasonable, and constitutionally impermissible burden".

The court appeared in agreement and demanded the government 'calculate the harm' being done to the nearly 30 million people who live in Delhi and the national capital region.

"This is the minimum you can do... every citizen requires fresh air. If you can't do that, then the minimum you can do is reduce GST. Give an exemption for 15 days... treat this situation as an emergency. How many times do you breath in a day? 21,000 times? Calculate the harm..."

The government was given time till 2.30 pm to respond.

Delhi's AQI crisis

Air quality in Delhi-NCR remained in the 'very poor' category today.

Data at 7 am indicated an AQI of 355 in Noida, 349 in Delhi, 316 in Gurugram, and 309 in Ghaziabad, and visuals from central Delhi this morning showed a horrid grey cloud of smog hanging over Kartavya Path near India Gate as Republic Day parade rehearsals took place.

READ | Smog Engulfs Delhi-NCR As Air Quality Prevails In 'Very Poor'

Last week the highest recorded reading in the city was a deadly 441. The week before it was worse; Delhi recorded an AQI of 461 - the second worst December air quality day on record.

The worst was 469 on December 21, 2017.

Hazardous air quality in Delhi has been linked to nearly 15 per cent of all deaths in 2023, making it the city's single largest health risk, according to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data.

NDTV Special | 1 In 7 Deaths In Delhi In 2023 Linked To Air Pollution, Finds Study

But, despite these alarming figures, the centre has maintained there is "no conclusive evidence" directly linking air pollution to mortality, calling it one of several contributing factors.

The AQI crisis in Delhi is not a new phenomenon. It is an annual problem exacerbated this year by the Supreme Court permitting the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali, an allowance hailed by the Bharatiya Janata Party that returned to power in the city after the February election.

READ | Delhi Chokes, MPs Scrap Air Crisis Debate Over Bad 'Atmosphere': Sources

Air purifiers have, thus, become an indispensable product in most homes, at least those who can afford the product. But lakhs of others, including the city's homeless population, have no protection from the toxic air or access to medical care when they develop respiratory diseases.

The parliamentary debate that never was

India's lawmakers were supposed to discuss the horrid blanket of toxic air smothering the national capital region last week, during Parliament's winter session, which closed Friday without that dicussion.

Discussions were held (and protests staged) over electoral reforms and the G RAM G bill that replaces the MNREGA scheme enacted in 2005 by the Congress-led UPA government.

Discussions were held (and protests staged) over 'Vande Mataram', India's national song, complete with jabs about the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose 17-year executive legacy is the ruling BJP's preferred punching bag.

But the MPs couldn't find a few hours between December 1 (when the session began) and today to shout at each other over Delhi's air quality, an annual emergency responsible for an estimated 17,200 lives in the city in 2023.

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