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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  GST Council unable to finalize supporting legislations; to meet again on 11-12 Dec
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GST Council unable to finalize supporting legislations; to meet again on 11-12 Dec

The GST Council's nod in the next meeting will be crucial for the bills to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of Parliament scheduled to end on 16 December

When asked if the bills will now be tabled only in the budget session of Parliament given the time constraint, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the government has a ‘game plan’ which he didn’t disclose. Photo: PTIPremium
When asked if the bills will now be tabled only in the budget session of Parliament given the time constraint, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the government has a ‘game plan’ which he didn’t disclose. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) will go down to the wire after the states and the centre were unable to finalize the supporting legislations on Saturday.

At the end of the fifth meeting of the GST Council, there was some headway on the draft central and state GST laws but both sides failed to lock down on all the supporting legislations as sharing of administrative powers between the centre and the states and impact of demonetisation on state finances dominated discussions.

The Council will meet again on 11 and 12 December to finalize these bills. The GST Council’s nod in the next meeting will be crucial for the bills to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of Parliament scheduled to end on 16 December.

Also read: GST can’t be delayed beyond September 2017: Arun Jaitley

“Nine chapters each of the Central GST and the state GST law have been discussed and locked down. We are meeting again next week to finalize these legislations as well as the compensation bill and the integrated GST bill," said finance minister Arun Jaitley.

When asked if the bills will now be tabled only in the budget session of Parliament given the time constraint, the finance minister said the government has a ‘game plan’ which he didn’t disclose.

The states and the centre also discussed the aspects of dual control with relation to the IGST bill but did not make much headway. IGST bill refers to the taxation of inter-state movement of goods. While states are insisting that all traders below Rs1.5 crore remain under the states’ administrative control, the centre is unwilling to cede on this issue.

“The critical issue of cross empowerment still remains unresolved. Are we close to a resolution? I am still keeping my fingers crossed. If we reach a solution on this, then I will say it is a done deal.

“We will try to achieve April 1 rollout deadline. The time option is only between 1 April and 16 September (for the rollout," Jaitley said referring to the constitutional compulsion to bring in GST by that date post which all existing indirect tax laws will become void.

Also read: Demonetisation may not deliver long term benefits to India: Paul Krugman

“So far, I have worked in a manner to avoid division. I hope to continue to arrive at a consensus and avoid a division," he said.

The issue of the impact of demonetisation on state finances was also discussed outside of the GST Council meeting between state finance ministers and the Union finance minister.

States sought a increase in the borrowing limits under the fiscal responsibility and budget management, Jaitley said.

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Published: 03 Dec 2016, 07:02 PM IST
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