Plea filed before Delhi High Court challenging imposition of IGST on import of Oxygen Concentrators as gift for personal use

A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court challenging the imposition of Integrated GST (IGST) on the import of Oxygen Generators/Oxygen Concentrators as gift for personal use (Gurcharan Singh vs UOI). .The plea came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh on Tuesday. .Since none appeared on behalf of the Central government, the Court listed the mater for hearing on May 5. The Court also requested the presence of Additional Solicitor General of India for the hearing. .The petitioner before Court is an 85-year-old COVID-19 patient whose nephew sent an Oxygen Generator as gift from USA for the improvement of the health of the Petitioner..The petitioner contended that imposition of any sort of levy by the State on the import of Oxygen/ Oxygen generators for personal use abridges right to have oxygen which is part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. .The petitioner further argued that it is "patently arbitrary" that the IGST is levied at the same rate on the import of Oxygen Generators for both personal use as well as commercial use.."In times when the country is reeling owing to the lack of oxygen, it is a highly insensitive act on the part of the Respondent to continue levying IGST on the import of Oxygen Generators," the petition stated. .During the hearing, Senior Advocate Sudhir Nandrajog informed the Court that the Central government had issued a notification, exempting IGST levy on oxygen generators that were coming in "for charity"..The petitioner also submitted that by a notification issued on April 30, the Director-General of Foreign Trade, the Central Government also sought to exempt oxygen generators imported as gifts from import duty till 31st July 2021. .Presently, the IGST leviable on import of Oxygen Generators is @ 12 percent till June 30, 2021. Prior to the May 1 Notification, the import of Oxygen Generators for personal use was levied IGST @ 28 percent while those importing for commercial purposes were levied @ 12 percent..The petition was filed through advocates Ankit Sahni and Siddharth Bambha.