'Beneficial Legislation, Promotes Consumer Welfare': Delhi High Court Upholds Anti-Profiteering Provisions Under CGST Act And Rules

The Delhi High Court has upheld the provisions concerning anti-profiteering measure and establishment of National Anti-Profiteering Authority under the Central Good and Services Tax Act, 2017 and its Rules, observing that they are in the nature of a beneficial legislation as they promote consumer welfare.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Dinesh Kumar. The Delhi High Court has upheld the provisions concerning anti-profiteering measure and establishment of National Anti-Profiteering Authority under the Central Good and Services Tax Act, 2017 and its Rules, observing that they are in the nature of a beneficial legislation as they promote consumer welfare. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma upheld the constitutional validity of Section 171 of the Central Good and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Rules 122, 124, 126, 127, 129, 133 and 134 of Rules of 2017. It added: “Consequently, a robust mechanism in conformity with the constitutional requirements is in place for dealing with grievances of breach of Section 171 of the Act, 2017 and hence, it cannot be said that there is no judicial oversight over the decisions of NAA.” The court further ruled that NAA is primarily a fact-finding body which is required to investigate whether suppliers have passed on the benefit to their recipients by way of reduced prices as mandated by Section 171 of the Act, 2017 and thus, performs functions that are to be discharged by domain experts.