CUTS to speak against ‘profiteering’ entities

CUTS International, a consumer advocacy group, will approach the Delhi High Court to speak on behalf of consumers in a case against the National Anti-profiteering Authority.

“CUTS will intervene in the matter in the High Court to defend consumers’ rights to be charged appropriate prices and support the Authority,” said Secretary General Pradeep S Mehta.

Forty-odd companies have challenged the findings of the NAA in the Delhi HC, and the court has clubbed these petitions to hear them as one in November.

Mehta termed these petitions as unfair. He expressed deep concern over the benefits of tax rate reduction not being passed on by dealers to consumers by way of actual reduction in prices of goods or services supplied by them.

He said that as a learning from the VAT experience, legal teeth were provided in GST laws by incorporating anti-profiteering provisions to check profiteering by businesses when the GST was being rolled out in the country.

He cited a report released in 2010 by the CAG to emphasise his point that dealers did not pass benefits of tax reduction to the consumers in the wake of implementation of statelevel value added tax.

Section 171 of Central GST Act, 2017, provides that any reduction in rate of tax on any supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit shall be passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices.

However, certain companies have challenged the constitutional validity of the provision of CGST antiprofiteering through writ petitions and the anti-profiteering rules questioning the constitutional validity, CUTS said in a statement.

Close to 40 entities have challenged the NAA’S findings in the Delhi HC, which the court is set to hear in November