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Kerala High Court has directed GST Council to forward a representation to Centre to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime and take an appropriate decision within six weeks.
In a Public Interest Litigation, Kerala Pradesh Gandhi Darshanvedhi prayed for direction to Finance Secretary and Oil Secretary to include petrol and diesel under the GST regime. The PIL was taken up by a division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly.
‘For a harmonised market’
The petitioner urged the Court to order GST Council recommend the inclusion of petrol and diesel under the GST regime so “as to achieve a harmonised national market as contemplated under Article 279 A (6) of the Constitution of India.”
As another bench of the Kerala High Court had earlier ruled that no ‘mandamus’ can be issued to the GST Council to take any decision, the bench only directed the GST Council to forward petitioner’s representation to the Finance Secretary to take an appropriate decision within a period of six weeks.
Prateek Bansal Associate Partner with White and Brief, a multi service law form said, “It must not be lost sight here that to bring the fuels out opf the ambit of Central Excise and State VAT, a Constitutional amendment will be required to amend the Entry No 84 of List-I and Entry No 54 of List-II of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution to restrict the Centre and States from collecting Excise duty or VAT.”
The issue has cropped at a time when fuel prices are at record high with petrol crossing ₹100 a litre in some States while diesel prices are near that.
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