The Delhi High Court on Wednesday challenged the central government’s decision to withdraw a special GST concession on car purchases for persons with disabilities, calling it “positive discrimination.”

A bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ordered the government to explain why a reduced GST rate cannot be retained for the differently-abled.  The case was brought by the All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB), contesting the Ministry of Heavy Industry’s October 8 notification that uniformly lowered the GST on all vehicles from 28 percent to 18 percent, without preserving the previous concession for persons with locomotor disabilities.