New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre to consider and decide within six months a plea seeking GST exemption for adult diapers. A bench of Justices Nitin W Sambre and Ajay Digpaul passed the order on a petition challenging the “arbitrary and discriminatory” levy of 5% GST on adult/clinical diapers. A senior counsel for the petitioners argued that an adult diaper is not a luxury item but is used by a highly vulnerable population. “There is no real intelligible differentia between the use of a sanitary pad and an adult diaper. It is something you can’t live without if you require it. It is a hygiene product you have to have access to. Your life is without dignity without it,” the counsel said.
The petitioners — persons with disabilities — sent a representation to the authorities on Sept 3, 2025, which remains undecided.In their plea, Swarnalatha J and T S Guruprasad said sanitary napkins had rightly been exempted from the levy of GST in 2018, and similar relief should also be extended for adult diapers, as the rationale behind such exemption is to ensure affordability and avoid discouraging their use.“As such, non-exemption of adult/clinical diapers from the GST is manifestly arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of the petitioners rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, as well as under the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disability Act,” the petition said.The counsel for the authorities said the levy of GST was a policy decision that could not be taken “unilaterally”. The issue, he said, had to be considered by GST Council.
