GST Bills Passed by Both Houses, Rajya Sabha Drops Amendments

The return of four Bills on the Goods and Services Tax to the Lok Sabha by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday without recommending any amendments brought the idea of “one country-one tax” closer to reality. The Bills will now be sent for Presidential assent.

Minister Arun Jaitley said petroleum products could be included in the GST ambit if there is a consensus on it in the GST Council. On agriculture products, he maintained that it will remain outside the purview of GST in zero rate.

The Congress withdrew all the amendments it had moved against the Bill. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said his amendments, particularly the one on the role of GST Council, will not be pushed as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advised him not to do so. Ramesh said Singh wanted the consensus in the GST Council to be respected and that the House should not be seen as standing against it.

CPI(M) Questions Powers of GST Council

Earlier, speaking on the Bills, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said he had serious concerns about the “whole concept of ‘one nation, one tax’; ‘one nation, one grid’.” “If the GST Council takes a decision, if we think in our wisdom that that is something that is affecting the powers of the States or the rights of the States according to our Constitution, it has to come for Parliamentary approval. And that is something which is a very serious lacuna in this Bill, which has to be corrected,” he said.