Letters: Montek is right

With reference to Karan Thapar's interview of Montek Singh Ahluwalia, "Retro amendments to I-T Act regrettable" (March 7), the view of the erstwhile Planning Commission deputy chairman on the goods and services tax (GST) will likely help in the passing of the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Although Ahluwalia held the post during the regime of the United Progressive Alliance, he is regarded as a competent economist by people and political parties in general.

Ahluwalia said that if the GST Bill, Bankruptcy Bill and Real Estate Bill were not passed, that would have a "slowing-down impact on the economy". With regard to putting a cap on the GST rate in the Constitution, he said "we don't normally put rates in the Constitution" and doing that "may not be necessary".

In the interest of boosting growth, he is in favour of getting the aforementioned Bills passed in the Rajya Sabha. Reasonable members of the Opposition should take this piece of advice and cooperate with the government in passing these bills in the interest of the country.

Sukumar Mukhopadhyay New Delhi

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