By TIOL News Service

MADURAI, MARCH 22, 2018: THE grievance expressed by the petitioner is that though the main aim of Goods and Services Tax Act, is "One Nation One Tax", petrol and diesel having not been brought under the purview/control under the Goods and Services Tax Act and that apart, price of per litre of the said fuels is also fixed daily and it has reached all time high now, despite the fact that the International market price of crude oil per barrel is very low.

The petitioner avers that an exorbitant increase in the selling price of petroleum products directly affects the common man for the reason that most of the goods are transported through road/service transport and any increase in price of the fuel would bound to increase the selling price of the commodities, especially essential commodities and it is high time that the petrol and diesel prices should be brought within the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and also pointed out in this regard that the petitioner has submitted a representation, dated 16.06.2017 to the respondents and inspite of receipt and acknowledgment, no response is forthcoming and therefore, he is constrained to approach this Court by filing this Writ Petition.

The High Court extracted the provisions of Section 2(36) of the CGST Act (defining "Council"), Section 9 (relating to Levy & Collection), Section 11 (relating to Power to grant exemption from Tax) and mentioned that the primordial question is as regards whether the Court, in exercise of its Jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, can issue any positive direction to the Goods and Central Services Tax council to bring petrol and diesel prices within the ambit of Goods and Services Tax.

The High Court opined –

+ It cannot issue any direction for the reason that it is for the Goods and Services Tax council to take a call in that aspect and Section 9(2) of the 'Act' also deals with the Central Tax on the supply of petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas and aviation turbine fuel.

+ The Goods and Services Tax council is having representation of the State Governments also and, therefore, their views have also to be elicited, before the Goods and Service Tax council take a call as to bring the petrol and diesel prices within the ambit of Goods and Service Tax.

+ The Government on the basis of recommendations of the Goods and Service Tax council is also having the power for issuing a notification to exempt generally either absolutely or subject to such conditions as may be specified therein and it can act on public interest and also on the recommendation of the council to exempt from payment of Tax of any goods or services or both, on which, the Tax is levied. Hence, it is the prerogative of the Central Government to take a call on the basis of the recommendations of the Goods and Central Tax council.

Observing that it is a well-settled position of law that "it is not for the Court to determine whether a particular policy or particular decision taken in the fulfillment of that policy is fair" and that it can interfere only when it is found to be arbitrary or based on an irrelevant consideration or malafide or against any statutory provisions, the High Court concluded that it is not in a position to issue any positive direction to the respondents to consider the prayer sought for by the petitioner.

The Writ Petition was dismissed.

(See 2018-TIOL-2763-HC-MAD-GST)