Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on 14/5/2015 stuck to the April deadline for rolling out GST.

“I would have been much happier if the Rajya Sabha (had) also approved the GST. In that sense I would not have been cutting it too fine with regard to the April 1, 2006 deadline. I would only hope that the principal opposition party had realised the significance of this timeline at this moment,” the Minister told reporters.

The Bill to amend the constitution had to be referred to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha as the Congress blocked its passage, arguing that it needed further consultation. Once the panel’s report is received, the Upper House will have to clear the bill, which will then need to be ratified by at least half the State legislatures and will be followed by the GST Bill setting out the details. But, before the second bill is moved, the Centre and the States will have to decide on the tax rate and other modalities and the IT backbone also needs to be ready to converge all indirect taxes levied by the Centre and the State into GST.

A large part of the interaction with the media focused on Congress’s “obstructionist” approach but appeared hopeful about the passage of the land and the GST bills.

[ Source : The Times of India, New Delhi, dated 15/05/2015]

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