Kerala High Court: The Division Bench comprising of S. Manikumar, CJ., and Shaji P. Chaly, J., asked the Union government if petrol and diesel should fall under GST regime, the Bench granted six weeks time to the Centre to decide the same.
The petitioner-Kerala Pradesh Gandhi Darshanvedi had filed the instant PIL the following reliefs:
- To issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ or order directing the Centre and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to include petrol and diesel under the GST regime.
- To issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ or order directing the GST Council to recommend the inclusion of petrol and diesel under the GST regime so as to achieve a harmonized national market as contemplated under Article 279 A (6) of the Constitution of India.
- To declare that the non-inclusion of petrol and diesel under the GST regime was violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petitioner had also submitted a representation to the Government of Kerala to request the GST Council to include the petrol and diesel in the GST regime and had also proposed that till a decision is taken by the GST Council, the Government of Kerala may refrain from levying the state tax on petrol and diesel.
However, the stand taken by the Centre government and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was that inclusion or deletion of GST is a policy decision. Adopting the same line of argument, and placing reliance on the decision in Union of India v. Shiyaad, W.A.No.2061 of 2017, the GST Council submitted that a no mandamus can be issued to the GST Council to take any decision and that the Union government is the competent authority to take a decision on the above said issue.
In the light of the above, the Bench directed the GST Council to forward the representation made by the petitioner to the Centre government. Similarly, the Centre government was asked to take an appropriate decision within a period of six weeks.[Kerala Pradesh Gandhi Darshanvedhi v. Union of India, 2021 SCC OnLine Ker 2778, decided on 21-06-2021]
Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
Appearance before the Court by:
For the Petitioner: Adv. Arun B. Varghese and Adv. Aiswarya V.S.
For the Respondents: ASG P.Vijaykumar, Sr. Counsel P.R.Sreejith, SPL GP Gopikrishnan Nambiar
