Chhattisgarh govt calls special Assembly session on August 22 to ratify GST Bill

BJP Government in Chhattisgarh has convened a special Assembly session to ratify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Amendment Bill of the Centre.  "To ratify the 122nd Constitution Amendment bill, which is known as GST Bill, there will be a short notice session of the state Assembly on August 22," Principal Secretary of Chhattisgarh Assembly Devendra Verma told Millennium Post on Wednesday. A notification for this short notice session has been issued by Governor Balramji Dass Tandon to convene the House at 11.00 am on August 22 (Monday) to discuss and ratify the GST bill, he said. 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said through this GST Bill the economy of both Chhattisgarh and the country would be strengthened. "The concept of one country, one market and one economy will be materialized through the GST Bill and economy of Chhattisgarh and the country will become stronger through the Bill," said Singh. 

GST was in the talk only, but that was given a real shape by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Singh said adding as a Chief Minister he had been advocating higher share of tax revenue by the state and that was materialized only recently by increasing the tax share of the states from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. 

Chhattisgarh’s Commercial Tax Minister Amar Agrawal also praised Jaitley’s  efforts on GST bill. "The way Jaitley has cleared the obstacles and got the cooperation of all political parties and the states is praiseworthy," said Agrawal. 

The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for GST was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 8, with 443 members voting in favour of the legislation. 

At least 50 per cent of the states have to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill to ultimately introduce a pan-India Goods and Services Tax regime. The deadline for rollout of the GST is April 1, 2017. The GST seeks to include all central indirect levies like excise duty, countervailing duty and service tax, as also state taxes such as value added tax, entry tax and luxury tax, to create a single, pan-India market.