GST: Session not prorogued, govt options open

Government today appeared to be keeping its options open on convening a special session of Parliament for enacting the GST law on which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley declared that it was determined to stick to the rollout deadline of April 1, 2016.
"The CCPA (Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs) has decided not to prorogue the session as yet. We will make our own assessment," he told at a press conference shortly after the Monsoon Session of Parliament ended in a virtual washout with the government failing to get the GST bill passed.
"I will not reveal the strategy but I would clearly say we are determined and it would be our endeavour to roll out GST from April 1, 2016," he said.

Attacking the Congress for stalling the bill, Jaitley claimed that as it stands today the numbers are in favour of the GST bill.
There is speculation that the government may call a special session to get the GST bill approved by the Rajya Sabha.
Although the Monsoon Session ended today, the government has decided against proroguing it to keep the possibility open for convening a special session at short notice.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, that seeks to replace all indirect taxes with a uniform levy, has already been approved by the Lok Sabha but could not be taken up in the Upper House because of opposition by the Congress and Left parties.

Indirect tax reform GST proposes to create an uniform tax rate across the country by subsuming excise, service tax and other local levies. GST is estimated to boost India's GDP by 1-2 per cent.