GST Bill all set to clear Rajya Sabha hurdle today

The much-delayed Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday unless there is a last-minute hiccup. “We would list the bill for consideration tomorrow in Rajya Sabha. We have talked to all parties and the Prime Minister had said at the beginning of this session that GST is in the interest of all. We hope the GST Bill will be passed with consensus,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters after BJP Parliamentary Party meeting.

As per the script agreed upon between the treasury and the opposition benches, the government on Tuesday circulated official amendments to the bill to drop 1 percent additional tax and include a definite provision in the statute for compensating states for revenue loss for 5 years. Under the modified provisions of GST Constitutional Amendment Bill circulated among the members, GST Council will be required to establish a mechanism for adjudication of disputes, which could arise between the Centre and states or among states themselves. 

The 2014 bill authorised GST Council to decide upon the modalities for resolution of disputes.

With these official amendments, the government has partially met the demands of the Congress party which has been blocking the bill in the Rajya Sabha. One of the three demands of the Congress was to do away with the 1 percent additional manufacturing tax.

On the demand for a Supreme Court judge-headed panel for resolving GST disputes, the official amendments say that the GST Council will establish a mechanism for solving disputes. With regard to the demand for putting a GST rate cap in the Constitution, the government has not mentioned anything in the official amendments.

Congress originally mooted GST in 2006 and a constitution amendment bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in March 2011 but it lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.

The amendment was passed by Lok Sabha in May last year but got stuck in Rajya Sabha as the Congress made several demands, including a cap on GST rate in the statute, abolition of 1 per cent inter-state tax to favour manufacturing states and a legislated dispute-resolution mechanism.