Ice cream is not a luxury item: High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has ordered the GST Council to reconsider excluding small-scale manufacturers of ice cream from the composition scheme, saying ice cream is not a luxury item. It is noteworthy that currently GST is levied on ice cream at the rate of 18 percent. A single-judge bench of Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey of the high court, in its order on April 1, said taxation laws must meet the test of Article 14 (equality) of the Constitution and be appropriately classified. The court said that ice cream is consumed on a large scale in India. Ice cream cannot be called a luxury item. The GST Council should consider the socio-economic impact as mentioned in the Constitution. It is noteworthy that the Small Scale Ice Cream Manufacturers Association had filed an application in the Chhattisgarh High Court seeking to quash the notification and recommendation of the GST Council regarding exclusion of ice cream manufacturers from the composition scheme.