Air purifier not luxury, PIL before Delhi High Court seeks reclassification as medical devices, challenges 18% GST

Outlining the air quality in the Delhi-NCR region, the plea said the area is engulfed in an “extreme and perilous air-quality crisis”, where toxic concentrations of particulate matter routinely choke the atmosphere, rendering the very act of breathing “hazardous”.

Infographic: The PIL in Delhi High Court seeks air purifiers to be declared as “medical devices” and not seen as a “luxury” but as a “necessity”.

“The city is witnessing alarming levels of respiratory illness, irreversible lung damage, cardiac distress, developmental harm to children, and a surge in premature deaths. The prevailing conditions constitute nothing short of a grave public-health emergency and pose an immediate, direct and unconstitutional assault on the right to life under Article 21,” it said.

According to the petitioner, the scope of what constitutes a “medical device” has been significantly broadened by the Central government through a notification dated February 11, 2020, issued under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The petition asserted that the effect of the 2020 notification was to transform the earlier “limited and item-specific definition” of medical devices into “a comprehensive, purpose-based classification aligned with public-health objectives”.

The plea stated that the notification extended regulatory oversight to “any instrument, apparatus, appliance, implant, material, software or accessory” intended for prevention, diagnosis, monitoring or alleviation of disease, even if it functions through non-pharmacological or mechanical means.

Arguing that air purifiers fall squarely within this expanded definition, the petitioner contended that devices equipped with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters “demonstrably remove fine particulate matter, allergens, bioaerosols and toxic airborne pollutants,” reducing exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 levels known to cause asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular illnesses.

The petition also stated that air purifiers perform a “preventive function by mechanically filtering and removing hazardous particulate matter,” and further contribute to monitoring through integrated air-quality sensors that enable early detection of harmful fluctuations.

“As their intended and primary purpose is the prevention and alleviation of disease-causing exposures and the safeguarding of respiratory health, air-purifiers squarely fall within the statutory sweep of a ‘medical device’,” the plea claims.

The PIL strongly criticised the differential tax treatment accorded to air purifiers as compared to other medical devices stating that while most medical devices have been rationalised to attract five per cent GST, air purifiers continue to be taxed at 18 per cent, treating them as non-essential household appliances despite performing identical preventive functions.

“There exists no rational, scientific or intelligible basis to classify medical devices at 5% GST while simultaneously taxing air-purifiers at 18%,” the petitioner submits, calling the classification violative of the constitutional test of intelligible differentia.

Relying on advisories issued by the World Health Organization (WHO-SEARO) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the ‘National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health‘, the petition highlights that air purifiers are officially recognised as necessary protective devices during “Poor to Severe+” air quality conditions, particularly for vulnerable populations.

The plea further stated that imposing the highest GST slab on air purifiers during an ongoing air pollution crisis makes them financially inaccessible and infringes the fundamental right to life and clean air under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“The continued levy of the maximum rate operates to deny effective access to a life-protective device,” the petition said, adding that Delhi-NCR is facing “persistent and severe degradation of air quality” amounting to a grave public-health emergency.