Turf war over dual control: GST on a knife-edge as states act tough

States refuse to budge from their stand on division of administrative powers between them and Centre

States on Friday refused to budge from their stand on division of administrative powers between them and the Centre under the proposed goods and services tax (GST), putting road blocks in the way of tabling the GST Bills in the ongoing session of Parliament and introducing the new indirect tax system from April 1, 2017.

Only nine working days are left for this session to end, prompting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to say that GST has to be implemented by September 16, 2017; else, imposing indirect taxes will be a problem. Notably, he did not rule out the possibility