Amit Mitra to head GST panel

The appointment comes days ahead of the upcoming Budget Session of the Parliament which starts on Tuesday

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West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra was on Friday appointed the chairman of the goods and services (GST) panel, a move that came three months after the previous head, former Kerala finance minister K M Mani, resigned in November 2015. The move comes just ahead of the Budget session, which starts from Tuesday.

Mitra was elected at the meeting of state finance ministers that was also attended by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The West Bengal finance minister, who couldn't attend the meeting as he was unwell, was informed about the decision of the committee over phone by Jaitley.
 

Confirming the development, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha expressed hope that the Constitution amendment Bill on GST would be passed by Parliament in the Budget session.

With this, the tradition to have the finance minister of an Opposition-ruled state to be the head of the empowered committee of state finance ministers has been maintained. This tradition was broken when Abdul Rahim Rather was appointed by former finance minister P Chidambaram. Rather belonged to the National Conference, an ally of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre then.

West Bengal is ruled by the Trinamool Congress.

In November last year, Delhi finance minister Manish Sisodia was selected to chair that particular meeting for a day after Mani resigned as the finance minister of Kerala over corruption charges against him.

The committee is to deliberate on the GST exemption thresholds and GST Bill.

A panel, headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, had suggested a higher GST exemption threshold of Rs 75 lakh annual turnover against Rs 50 lakh recommended by the Centre.

States are divided on the limits, with most including Karnataka seeking a lower exemption limit of Rs 10 lakh annual turnover.

The empowered committee also has to discuss the GST law and business processes for payments, refunds and return filing.

GST could not be cleared in the winter session of Parliament, as Congress wanted to fix the GST rates in the Constitution amendment Bill itself. The Centre opposed the demand arguing such a move would limit the flexibility of the GST council to change rates, because it will have to seek Parliament’s approval each time it wants to revise rates.