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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Gujarat becomes sixth state to ratify GST bill
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Gujarat becomes sixth state to ratify GST bill

Gujarat assembly ratifies the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST unopposed; Congress MLAs suspended for creating ruckus before the Bill was tabled

Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel says the amended GST bill will allow Gujarat to collect taxes on transactions other than purchase or sale within the state. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel says the amended GST bill will allow Gujarat to collect taxes on transactions other than purchase or sale within the state. Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad: Gujarat became the sixth state to ratify the goods and services tax (GST) constitution amendment bill on Tuesday in the absence of the opposition Congress party.

On Monday, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh state assemblies cleared the bill that was earlier approved by the Parliament.

Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand passed the amendment bill earlier.

The Delhi and Odisha governments, too, have called special sessions to debate the bill.

The GST bill, seen as the country’s single biggest tax reform, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST council, which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.

Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said the amended GST bill will allow Gujarat to collect taxes on transactions other than purchase or sale within the state.

The Gujarat state assembly passed the bill in the absence of the opposition Congress after 44 MLAs were suspended by speaker Ramanbhai Vora for creating a ruckus in the assembly over alleged atrocities against Dalits in the state.

The Gujarat government had convened a special two-day monsoon session of the State Assembly on Monday and Tuesday, the main agenda of it being to ratify the GST Bill.

Value added tax (VAT) and central sales tax to the tune of 38,000 crore will be subsumed by GST, said Saurabh Patel, a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former finance minister who has represented Gujarat in the empowered group of state ministers on GST.

Income of 19,000 crore collected as taxes from petroleum products will not be impacted as they are exempt from GST, Patel said in the assembly on Tuesday.

During a discussion earlier in the day on the alleged atrocities on Dalits, Congress members rushed to the centre of the House saying the BJP is “anti-Dalit".

Gujarat has seen protests after four Dalits were flogged in Una on 11 July by self-styled cow protectors over the issue of skinning a dead cow. The issue snowballed into a statewide agitation after a video of the incident went viral and various national political parties took up this issue.

Congress leader Raghavji Patel raised the issue of the attack on Dalits at Samter village after the Dalit Asmita rally on 15 August as a matter of urgent public interest.

Minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja, in his reply, said Dalits were attacked at Samter village when they were returning from the rally on Independence Day and that the police had fired 51 teargas shells and several rounds in the air to protect them. He said seven police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police were injured.

Leader of opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela of the Congress demanded a judicial inquiry. He said the Gujarat government’s decision to form a special investigation team (SIT) for an investigation into the death of three Dalit youths, killed in a firing incident at Thangadh in Surendranagar district in September 2012, was not enough and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.

Chief minister Rupani said the government will act with responsibility to ensure the safety of Dalits and asked the opposition leaders to join it in efforts to protect the community.

A heated debate followed when Congress leader Manibhai Vaghela alleged that the Una incident was a pre-planned conspiracy.

Thousands of Congress party supporters gathered in Gandhinagar to hold a rally against the “oppressive" BJP government and atrocities on Dalits.

Nearly 400 Congress supporters, along with its senior leaders and MLAs, were detained, while they were marching towards the state assembly, a PTI report said, citing unidentified police officials. They were stopped when they reached the main gate of the assembly.

Among those detained by the police were leader of opposition Vaghela and state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, the report stated.

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Published: 23 Aug 2016, 06:28 PM IST
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