The Supreme Court has issued a mandamus to remove the taxes imposed on sanitary pads.
A joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Mahesh Sharma Paudel on Wednesday issued the mandamus in a writ petition filed against the taxes on sanitary products.
The petition was filed by two law students, Shreena Nepal and Abhyudaya Bhetwal. When they were second-year students of BALLB program in 2021, Nepal and Bhetwal had filed the petition, demanding that the government remove the taxes on sanitary pads.
They have now completed their fourth-year exams and are awaiting results.
"After a four-year-long wait and struggle, the Supreme Court has accepted our writ petition and issued a mandamus in our favor," they said.
They had demanded that all sanitary products used during menstruation be removed from the category of "luxury goods" subject to a 13 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) and be included in the group of goods and services exempt from VAT, such as medicines, treatments, and similar healthcare facilities, under Section 5 (3) of the Value Added Tax Act.
The petition said that the law has made it mandatory to pay an 18 percent tax (5 percent customs duty and 13 percent VAT) on the import of various raw materials required for domestic sanitary product manufacturing.
This increases production costs, making pads more expensive, the petitioners argued, demanding amendments to the customs duty rates and the enactment of laws providing appropriate customs exemptions.
They also demanded amendments to the VAT imposed on foreign sanitary products.
The petitioners said that the mandamus was issued as per their demands. However, the full text of the ruling is yet to be prepared.
