Govt lists GST Bill for passage in Rajya Sabha tomorrow

The government will tomorrow bring the much-awaited bill on GST for passage in the Rajya Sabha even as doubts persists if the opposition Congress will allow passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill.

The Revised List of Business of Rajya Sabha said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will move the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014, incorporating recommendations made by a House Select Committee.

Jaitley will also move that the Bill be passed, it said.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which seeks to replace all indirect taxes with a uniform levy, has already been approved by the Lok Sabha and was in last session referred to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee.

The panel has given its report endorsing majority of the provisions, while suggesting changes in compensation to states and definition of supply for the purpose of states levying additional one per cent tax.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy assailed Congress for opposing the Bill, which he said was its own brain child.

Asked whether the GST is unlikely to be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the ongoing session of Parliament, Rudy said: "Looks like as of now".

Speaking on a TV channel, Rudy said the GST is not being deliberated in Parliament because "the Congress does not want it to happen despite being the architect of the bill".

"We have tried to build a political consensus... There were reservations of states which we have tried to address," Rudy said.

The current monsoon session of Parliament ends on August 13.

The GST Constitution Amendment Bill is waiting nod of Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority.