Following the much awaited 122nd Constitutional amendment Bill, dubbed as Goods and Services Tax Bill, passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Jharkhand Government is gearing up for its bit to contribute in making it a law.
Besides a high-level team of treasury and accounts department officials departing for Delhi on Monday, it is learnt that the Government may hold the prorogation of the recently concluded Monsoon Session in order to ratify the tax reform legislation promising ‘one nation, one tax’ formula.
Confirming the development Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy told The Pioneer that the matter would be discussed at top level very soon.
“I got a call from Anant Kumar (Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister) who was inquiring about status of the Assembly Session here. Since the prorogation has not been announced here, we may approach the Speaker for convening the sittings again for his purpose. We would consult the Center and if required the prorogation would be delayed,” said the Minister.
The weeklong Monsoon Session was adjourned sine die in July but it is still alive in the want of prorogation. Prorogation announces formal end of any Session. “The file for prorogation has reached to me and decision has not been taken yet. If the Centre wants we can go for extending the existing Session,” added the Minister who also made it clear that if in any case it got prorogued, the Government was ready even for a special Session for ratifying the GST Bill.
The Constitutional amendment Bill is required to be ratified by at least 16 State assemblies. The Center, to accomplish the task and timely roll out of the uniform tax formula which is expected in April 2017, has set a target of 30 days to get it ratified from half of the country’s States.
On the other hand, a high level team of two officials would leave for Delhi to understand all the nitty-gritty involved the new taxation system. “We have to settle things such as the formula for fund settlement of the collected revenue between the Centre and the State, who would be authorised for that and the way the desired mechanism would be put in place brick-by-brick. These things would have to be settled before we go before the Assembly. The Government needs to tell the Assembly about the fund management under the GST regime and what the mechanism is going to be for that,” said Additional Chief Secretary Amit Khare.
The Centre after the passage of the Bill has come out with a detailed roadmap for the implementation of the GST from April 1, 2017. To this effect, the Centre will ensure the Bill is ratified by at least 50 per cent of the States in next one month.
States besides approving the Bill, need to pass State-GST Bill from their respective Houses paving way for the Center to table Central GST and the integrated GST laws in the Winter Session of Parliament and putting in place the GST Council where the States would get representation.