GST Bill clears LS hurdle, braces for Rajya Sabha test

The Bill was passed even as the Opposition demanded to send it to a Standing Committee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House at the time of voting.

The Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the GST, originally mooted by the UPA government, was passed by 352 votes against 37, after the government rejected the Opposition’s demand of referring it to a Standing Committee.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “I straightaway concede that 27 per cent (revenue neutral rate) would be very high. We have decided to keep petroleum out and every state finance minister is not interested in imposing higher taxes on its people and neither is the Central government.” With regard to a recommendation of an expert panel for revenue-neutral GST rate of 27 per cent, Jaitley said it is “too high” and will be “much diluted”.

The GST, which is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016, will subsume excise, service tax, state VAT, entry tax, octroi and other state levies.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, before the Congress staged a walkout, Jaitley said the proposal to reform indirect taxes has been pending for the past 12 years and even his predecessor P Chidambaram had mooted it during the UPA government’s regime. Rejecting the Opposition’s demand for referring the Bill to the Standing Committee, he said the panel had already examined various provisions of the new legislation and several of its suggestions have been incorporated. “A Bill is not a dancing instrument that it will be jumping from Standing Committee to Standing Committee,” he said.

However, in case of the Real Estate Bill that has raised a storm in the Rajya Sabha, the government gave in to the Opposition’s demands and sent it to a Standing Committee of the Upper House. The 20-member committee, formed earlier in the day with representation from all parties, will submit its report by the first week of the next session of Parliament.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government had brought the Bill after wide consultations as there was a perception that the Bill was getting delayed. “There was lot of criticism that this Bill is getting delayed.”said Naidu.