The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Kerala High Court order asking authorities not to levy taxes and recover banks’ dues from people till April 6 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Centre, that the Kerala High Court order needed to have stayed.
Mehta told the bench that a similar order had been passed by the Allahabad High Court too. He said the authorities were conscious of the difficulties faced by the people amid the coronavirus situation and they would be evolving a proper mechanism to ensure people don’t face problems. Mehta said various taxes, including the goods and services tax, were also payable online and the high court should not have passed such an order.
The apex court granted an ex-parte order on Centre’s plea and issued notice to the persons who had moved the Kerala High Court with the plea. On Thursday, the Kerala High Court had directed banks, financial institutions, and Income Tax authorities to defer recovery proceedings till April 6. Authorities dealing with GST, recovery of tax on motor vehicles and building tax were also asked to stall recovery proceedings till April 6.
Kerala has 25 coronavirus patients under treatment currently. COVID-19 cases in India rose to 195 on Friday after 22 more people were infected with the fast-spreading virus in various parts of the country, according to Health Ministry data. given by the World Health Organisation.
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