The Jammu and Kashmir government will take a final call on implementation of the GST today after a meeting of the all-party consultative group, the state's Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said here on Wednesday as the July 1 rollout date neared.
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state which has not taken a call yet on the implementation of the new tax regime which will come into force in rest of the country from July 1.
Drabu said the Mehbooba Mufti government is "genuinely interested" in building a consensus because the GST is a regime that would last for the next 30-40 years.
The all-party consultative group, headed by PDP MP and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beg, was constituted by the government after an all-party meet failed to evolve a consensus over the issue.
"We will take a final call on the GST implementation tomorrow once we get the full sense of the all-party meeting.
I do not want to preempt anybody. Let us understand what their views are," Drabu told reporters here.
The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 pm.
"May be there is something (which) I have not seen, may be they come up with a wonderful solution which meets all requirements and makes all of us happy," he added.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on Monday written a letter to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, saying that failure of the state to implement the GST would lead to "adverse impact" of price rise and put the local industry at a disadvantage. Drabu said the state government has reached out to the opposition parties of the state and sent them all the relevant documents.
He said a perception has been created that the GST would impact the special status and the fiscal autonomy of the state, but there is no compromise on Article 370.
"The government is trying to build a consensus. This is a very fragile society. We are going through difficult times.
... the way things are happening around us, the way things have been dehumanized, anything can spark off. You do not want to create social chaos.
"So, it is in the interest of the society of J&K, not just the economy, to build a certain political as well as legislative consensus," he said.
Noting that the GST would have implications on consumers, traders, businesses, government, civil servants and banks, the finance minister said many amendments were implemented here but nobody knew anything.
"We decided that we will go to the people, we will discuss it inside the assembly, outside it. It is not for the lack of trying," he said. The last meeting of the consultative group was boycotted (by National Conference and Congress), Drabu said, adding "but we still tried."
He said the chief minister had asked him to make another attempt and keep trying.