GST: Jaitley to meet Cong leaders on Monday

Congress insiders are sceptical about the prospect of GST being passed when Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are to appear before the trial court in the Herald case

To break the ongoing logjam between the government and the opposition over passage of the Bill on a national goods and services tax (GST), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be meeting Congress party leaders on Monday.

There have been daily disruptions in Parliament, with no business being transacted in the Rajya Sabha all this week. Incidentally, the Congress decided a course correction on Friday, with its head in that House, Ghulam Nabi Azad, stating its protest there was not linked to the National Herald case but to its demand for action against 'tainted' ruling party chief ministers.  

Congress insiders are sceptical about the prospect of any major legislations being passed, including GST, when party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi are to appear on December 19 before the trial court in the Herald case. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi and his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, the Congress had formally stated it was for the government to respond to the Congress’ major concerns on GST. After the Subramanian committee report on the tax, it appears Jaitley will now be doing that.

The Congress had adopted an aggressive stance on the National Herald and alleged ‘political vendetta’. It is now conscious that the daily disruptions were generating adverse public perception for the party. Hence, it might allow discussion and some business to be transacted next week in the Rajya Sabha. However, its seniors indicate the party is in no mood to swiftly get down to passing GST.

After going public with three main objections to the government bill (need for a different dispute redressal mechanism, a cap on the rate and doing away with the one per cent additional tax), its leaders are now saying it is half-baked legislation. “How can we have crucial exclusions of electricity, liquor, petrol? It will not live up to the expectation of creating a common market, as had been envisaged with the GST.” Adding, “Ours is such an unregulated economy, we need to deliberate how to encompass diverse sorts of transactions.”

LONG ROAD TO GST
Major events leading to the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST

• Feb 2006: FM P Chidambaram proposes GST in Budget speech; sets April 1, 2010, as deadline
• Nov 2007: Joint working group, set up by empowered panel of state finance ministers and finance ministry, submits report
• Nov 2009: Empowered committee submits first discussion paper on GST
• April 2010: First deadline to introduce GST missed
• March 2011: Constitution (Amendment) Bill introduced in LS for implementation of GST
• Aug 2011: Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance submits report on the Bill
• May 2014: Bill lapses with dissolution of the 15th LS
• May 2015: LS passes Constitution (Amendment) Bill
• May 2015: Bill tabled in RS, referred to select panel
• July 2015: Select panel report tabled in RS
• July 2015: Cabinet clears revised Bill

Denying they were stalling on GST, party seniors say in any case, the government would never be able to meet the earlier April 1, 2016, deadline as an entire software architecture needs to be first in place. More important, the bill in question, a an amendment of the Constitution, needs to be ratified by more than half the state assemblies, and specific GST legislations need to be passed before the envisaged regime takes effect.