The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to direct the finance ministry to extend the goods and services tax (GST) amnesty scheme till the Covid -19 pandemic exists in India, saying it was “a policy decision exclusively within the domain of the government”.

A Bench led by justice DY Chadrachud rejected one Bilaspur-based trader Satyakam Arya’s plea to direct the central government and the GST Council to extend the amnesty scheme and give more time to small businesses and MSMEs to file their returns.
“In our view, these reliefs…pertain in the realm of policy decisions. It would be inappropriate for this court to entertain a petition of this nature, such as extension of the amnesty scheme; a cap on the late fee to be collected; exemption of late fee paid for a period between March 25, 2020, and June 30, 2020, and refund of the amount already collected towards late fee.”