Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar has sought over Rs2,547 crore from the Central Government as Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation claim and has urged that it be released as early as possible.
The Chief Minister, who discussed the issue of CST with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Saturday said the amount included CST for the years 2011-12 and 2012-13. Apart from the issue of CST and proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Chief Minister also discussed various other issues including economic development of the State and strengthening the economic status of the farmers.
The Chief Minister said that in order to improve the financial condition of the farmers, the State Government desires to strengthen the Cooperative Banks. The Union Minister assured the Chief Minister that the Central Government would look into these matters very positively and would cooperate with the State Government to its fullest. Khattar requested Jaitley to release the CST compensation claim at the earliest possible. The Chief Minister apprised the Union Minister that as per the proposed Goods and Services Tax Act, the State Government had already reduced CST rate from four per cent to three per cent and further from three per cent to two per cent on the request of the Central Government due to which the State Government had to bear direct loss.
He said that neither GST has so far been implemented nor the Central Government has raised the CST rate from two per cent to four per cent. Hence, the position needs to be reviewed for the payment of full CST compensation for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15.
The Chief Minister requested the Union Minister to take an early decision in this regard as the State Government is suffering heavy losses of revenue on this account.