States have asked the Centre to call all-party meeting to build consensus on the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill for rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST" target="_blank">GST) which is pending in Parliament.
"Yesterday, I suggested to Union Finance Minister [Pranab Mukherjee] to call all party meeting because many of the political parties like BSP and DMK are not in power in any of the states but they [have significant numbers] in Parliament," Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters here.
A Constitution Amendment Bill on GST is being scrutinised by a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
The Bill would need support of the two-third majority and also has to be ratified by 50% of the state assemblies.
The ruling UPA does not have the required majority in Parliament and thus requires support of other parties for the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill.
Modi, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, had called upon Mukherjee yesterday to discuss the progress of the GST, which was originally scheduled to be implemented from April, 2010.
He expressed hope that implementation of GST is likely to gather momentum in the coming days as the Standing Committee would start discussions on the Bill after the Budget Session concludes on May 24.
If the Standing Committee gives its report by October or November, the Bill could be taken up for discussions in the Winter Session, Modi said.
He expressed confidence that with the support of the political parties, the Bill could be passed by March end and also ratified by required number of the state assemblies.
The IT network for GST is likely to become operational by September, he added.
