Semantic debate on the fine print of GST

The discussion in the meeting of state finance ministers on the empowered committee for the goods and services tax (GST) saw heated debate on the use of the words "may" and "shall". West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said as much when he said the fine print of GST should be written with no ambiguity. Elaborating on how ambiguous use of words could lead to misinterpretation, he said, "Today the key point is safeguarding states' interest. The language of the constitutional amendment has to be 100 per cent clear. For example, in government files, we often see the use of the word 'may'. In some legal terminology it may mean 'shall'. If it means shall, why not call it 'shall'. I hope, at the end of the day, the language of the constitutional amendment comes out as 'shall'." What people don't know is, things reached such a pass that a dictionary had to be procured to analyse accurately the difference between "may" and "shall".