Dr. Pillai (63), a retired medical professor had raised an objection to the implementation of the GST bill, which was launched on July 1, 2017. In his petition, Dr. Pillai said “Implementation in the middle of the financial year will result in maladjustments among the government departments. The implementation must at least be as per the global conventional financial year so that the world can follow our system successfully.”
On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh had contended that the decision to implement GST was approved by the Parliament and that this new tax system will benefit the public at large. “Nearly 60,000 officials are trained to operate the new system. There are help desks, telephonic helplines set up by the Union and State governments to ensure that there are no technical glitches in migrating taxpayers to the new system,” ASG Singh had submitted.
The judgment was pronounced by a Division Bench of Justice Tahilramani and Justice Sandeep Shinde in response to the PIL filed by Dr KS Pillai. The PIL intended to highlight the flaws in the procedure in which the Union government had proposed to implement GST.
“In our view, the petitioner (Pillai) cannot urge and/or seek directions to the respondents to postpone the decision to implement GST with effect from July 1 for the simple reason that herein levy and collection of taxes on goods and services has the sanction of law. Also, it is much evidence that all such necessary steps are taken by the Union government to ensure implementation of the GST,” the judges said.
