Justice Nariman recognised as ‘hero’ for privacy judgment
NEW DELHI: Justice Rohinton F Nariman of the Supreme Court has been chosen individually as a “hero” for his judgment recognising privacy as a fundamental right by a global digital rights advocacy group.
The justice earned individual recognition for specifically citing to the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance in his opinion. The honour on justice Nariman has been bestowed by Access Now, an international human rights and advocacy group working for open and free Internet and defending the “digital rights of users at risk around the world”. Justice Nariman, who wrote a separate, but concurring judgement declaring the right to privacy as fundamental right, rejected the government’s argument that since several statutes are already there to protect the privacy of individuals, it is unnecessary to read a fundamental right of privacy into Part III of the Constitution.
Access Now also accorded special recognition as “heros” to the other Indian judges in the bench on privacy — then Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justice SA Bobde, Justice J Chelameswar, Justice RK Agrawal, Justice AM Sapre, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice SK Kaul and Justice S Abdul Nazeer for “unanimously agreeing to recognise privacy as a fundamental right”.
Justice Nariman and his eight brother judges, including Khehar, had declared privacy a fundamental right on August 27 in a case titled KS Puttaswamy vs Union of India. In its unanimous ruling, the bench said the right to privacy was at par with the constitutional right to life and liberty, but not without “reasonable restrictions” when it came to national security, fighting crime and distribution of state benefits. MUMBAI/NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: Gujarat and Maharashtra on Tuesday cut value-added tax (VAT) on auto fuel in tandem with the central government’s decision last week to cut excise duty, stoking expectations that the inclusion of petroleum products in the goods and service tax (GST) may happen sooner than later.
The two state governments’ swift action on the central government’s appeal to cut local taxes on auto fuel suggested that close co-ordination in indirect taxes is possible even on products outside GST.
Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-ruled Gujarat reduced VAT on petrol and diesel by 4%, becoming the first state to give relief to consumers from a recent surge in oil prices.
The decision announced by chief minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar will make petrol cheaper in the state by ₹2.93 and diesel by ₹2.72 a litre from Wednesday. Gujarat levied 28.96% VAT on petrol and diesel prior to the tax cut.
The Maharashtra government, also ruled by BJP, followed suit without delay. The state reduced VAT on petrol by ₹2 and on diesel by ₹1.
Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said on Tuesday that states are in principle on board with the idea of bringing petroleum products under GST although a decision has to be taken by the GST Council. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan too has been pitching for inclusion of petrol, diesel, jet fuel, natural gas and crude oil in the GST regime as it would ease the tax burden of oil and gas companies which at present are subjected to two streams of taxation, GST and VAT.
An official of the GST Council, when contacted, said on condition of anonymity that a proposal to include petroleum products in GST has not been discussed at the Council yet although at a political level, the idea may be broached.
Mungantiwar said the new rates on petrol and diesel will be effective from Wednesday. He said the reduction of VAT will cost the exchequer Rs. 940 crore from petrol sales and Rs.1,075 crore from diesel sales. The state would try to make up the revenue loss by adopting austerity measures, he said.
The central government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs2 last week, the first tax cut on fuel by the current government, to tame rising inflation. The recent spike in autofuel price, induced by refinery shutdowns in the US owing to violent weather, had an impact on the cost of living. Consumer price index-based inflation accelerated for the second consecutive month by 3.36% in August from 2.36% in July.
Pradhan said on Tuesday that the GST Council is the best example of a federal institution dealing with central-state issues and that a decision on inclusion of petroleum products will be taken by consensus. “The responsibility of people’s welfare rests equally with union and state governments,” said Pradhan.
While GST was being designed, the central government wanted crude oil and four petroleum products to be included in the new indirect tax structure, but these were kept out temporarily to accommodate the revenue concerns of states.