GST bill taken up in LS, fate uncertain in RS

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 05, 2015:  The long-delayed Goods and Services (GST) Bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha today after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it but its fate in Rajya Sabha was still a matter of speculation.

While in the Lok Sabha, the government does not have much of a problem in getting the measure through with support from BJP and its allies and possibly parties like Trinamool Congress, the measure’s fate is uncertain in Rajya Sabha where it lacks numbers.

The Parliamentary Parties of both BJP and the Congress are meeting tomorrow to take stock of the situation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has already meet leaders of allied parties and urged them to ensure their MPs are present in full numbers in the Lok Sabha to ensure the bill’s passage.

Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, however, made his party’s position clear when he said while they supported GST regime, the present bill needs legislative scrutiny, an apparent demand for reference to the standing committee.

The Constitution amendment bill for rolling in the new tax regime was taken up in the Lok Sabha up after the chair rejected opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.

After procedural wrangling that lasted half an hour before the debate on the bill began, Jaitley dismissed the opposition demand saying it was wrong to argue that the measure had never been to a standing committee.

"It has spent two and half years before the standing committee.  Thereafter, it has been to dozens and dozens of empowered committees of finance ministers under three different FMs and four different chairpersons.

"It is only after this a consensus was reached between the centre and the state government  and almost a near unanimity has been achieved, he said.

Jaitley said when the chief ministers were for the GST "why should we stand in their way".
"I will literally request you and beseech you.  After all in the life of the nation comes an opportunity for all of us to rise above partisan considerations. Why delay it, delay it by one more fiscal year. Your states, the consuming states will suffer," he said.

Seeking to bring the Opposition on board, he said all Congress-ruled states have supported the bill and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal and BJD-ruled Odisha would be the biggest beneficiaries from day one.

But the opposition members insisted that  bill be referred to the Standing Committee on Finance as it was a new bill as opposed to the one brought by the UPA government.
Members of Congress, BJD, AIADMK and CPI-M slammed the government for "bypassing" Parliamentary Standing Committees by refusing to refer several bills to it.

Jaitley said after GST, government proposed three more bills on the powers of the Centre and the states. GST Bill is a Constitution amendment bill which has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, who was in the Chair said B Mahtab had requested Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to send the bill to the standing committee as it was an altogether new measure. He said Jaitley had requested the Speaker against referring it to the standing committee and she has accepted the government’s request.

Congress leader, M Veerappa Moily, who initiated the debate, started with a teaser, "I stand to support GST"  which prompted Jaitley to congratulate him on his party’s stand.
However, the Congress leader later made a strong plea to the government that it send the legislation to the Standing Committee for wider consultation.

He said over 140 countries have GST measures and Indian could have "borrowed" and "learnt" from them to come out with a law which would help it to be "in the front line of developed countries".

Attacking the government for changes made in an earlier version of the bill brought by the UPA, Moily said the NDA dispensation should inform the opposition if it had "decided" not to send bills to Standing Committees so that they do not "waste the time of Parliament".

He said the government would not be doing any charity by agreeing to demand for sending it to the Standing Committee.