Govt's GST push stalled by Parliament chaos

Jaitley says economic growth will be affected if stalemate in Parliament continues

Opposition parties on Wednesday stalled a last minute attempt by the Narendra Modi government to pass the Goods and Service Tax Bill.

Members of the Congress party yelled slogans in the well of the Rajya Sabha, leading the speaker to adjourn proceedings until Thursday, which is the last day of the current sitting of Parliament.

Failing to approve the GST bill in this session will make it hard for the government to meet a self-imposed deadline to roll out the levy from April next year.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today warned of an adverse impact on the nation's economic growth if the stalemate in Parliament continues.

"If the Parliament doesn't function, legislative decision making is paralysed, a lot of policy decisions which emanate from legislation are paralysed. A lot of reforms are paralysed. This will eventually have an adverse impact on growth," Jaitley told ANI.

He further stated that every segment of the Indian society wants parliament to function and that is why thousands of people have signed an online petition urging that parliament resume its working.

"People in industries pay taxes, they create jobs and they have an interest in India's democracy and in India's economy growing. It is not only industrialists; it is thousands of average citizens, youth students, poor people who have signed that online petition," said Jaitley.

Around 15,000 people, including the country's top industrialists, have signed an online petition asking Members of Parliament to 'Let Parliament Function'.

Industry leaders like Adi Godrej, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Rahul Bajaj, Sunil Munjal, Anu Aga, Ajay Sriram, Sumit Mazumder and Kris Gopalakrishnan are reportedly among those who have signed the petition.

Parliament has remained deadlocked since the beginning of the Monsoon Session last month.