Congress state govts won't be an obstacle on GST, will ratify it soonest: Moily

AAP ruled Delhi could ratify the Bill during assembly session from Aug 22

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ruled Delhi government could ratify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) constitution amendment during its four day session beginning August 22. The Congress has also asked its state governments to ratify the Bill at the earliest.

Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Monday said that the eight Congress state governments would try ratifying the Bill as soon as possible. "Our state governments will not be an obstacle in ratifying. It is a win-win situation for all states," he said, but cautioned against the inflationary potential of the GST reform.

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Bill, as amended by the Rajya Sabha. It will now be notified to the states. Of the 31 states, a minimum of 16 states need to ratify the constitution amendment for it get the presidential assent and become law. State legislatures need to pass the Bill by a simple majority.

Of the 31 states, Delhi and Puducherry need to ratify the Bill and send this to the Ministry of Home Affairs while the rest of the 29 states will need to send it to the President. Senior government ministers have asked 13 states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party and/or its allies to ratify the Bill by calling special sessions of their legislative assemblies.

States such as Goa, Assam and Maharashtra have been asked to extend their sessions, if required, to ratify the Bill. The Maharashtra assembly session ended on Friday, but is yet to be prorogued. This would facilitate calling a sitting at short notice to ratify the Bill. Assembly sessions of Assam and Goa are scheduled to end on August 12, but the two might extend the session.

In addition, West Bengal could ratify the Bill during its special assembly session at the end of the month. Bihar has already committed to calling a special session.

Sources in the AAP government in Delhi said the city state's assembly would ratify GST Bill if an official communication is received from the Centre before the start of session on August 22.

The Congress has governments in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.

The BJP and/or its allies have governments in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland.