GST bill taken up in LS, fate uncertain in RS

The long-delayed Goods and Services Bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it but its fate in Rajya Sabha was still a matter of speculation.

While in the Lok Sabha, the government does not have much of a problem in getting the measure through with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies and possibly parties like the Trinamool Congress, the measure's fate is uncertain in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks numbers.

The Parliamentary Parties of both the BJP and the Congress are meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the situation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has already meet leaders of allied parties and urged them to ensure their members of Parliament are present in full numbers in the Lok Sabha to ensure the bill's passage.

Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, however, made his party's position clear when he said while they supported GST regime, the present bill needs legislative scrutiny, an apparent demand for reference to the standing committee.

The Constitution amendment bill for rolling in the new tax regime was taken up in the Lok Sabha up after the chair rejected opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.

After procedural wrangling that lasted half an hour before the debate on the bill began, Jaitley dismissed the opposition demand saying it was wrong to argue that the measure had never been to a standing committee.

"It has spent two and half years before the standing committee.  Thereafter, it has been to dozens and dozens of empowered committees of finance ministers under three different FMs and four different chairpersons.

"It is only after this a consensus was reached between the centre and the state government and almost a near unanimity has been achieved, he said.

Jaitley said when the chief ministers were for the GST, “Why should we stand in their way".

"I will literally request you and beseech you.  After all in the life of the nation comes an opportunity for all of us to rise above partisan considerations. Why delay it, delay it by one more fiscal year. Your states, the consuming states will suffer," he said.

Seeking to bring the Opposition on board, he said all the Congress-ruled states have supported the bill and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal and the Biju Janata Dal-ruled Odisha would be the biggest beneficiaries from day one.

But the opposition members insisted that bill be referred to the Standing Committee on Finance as it was a new bill as opposed to the one brought by the UPA government.

Members of the Congress, the BJD, the AIADMK and Communist Party of India-Marxist slammed the government for ‘bypassing’ Parliamentary Standing Committees by refusing to refer several bills to it.

Jaitley said after GST, the government proposed three more bills on the powers of the Centre and the states. The GST Bill is a Constitution amendment bill which has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, who was in the Chair said B Mahtab had requested Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to send the bill to the standing committee as it was an altogether new measure. He said Jaitley had requested the Speaker against referring it to the standing committee and she has accepted the government's request.

Congress leader, M Veerappa Moily, who initiated the debate, started with a teaser, "I stand to support GST, “Which prompted Jaitley to congratulate him on his party's stand”.

However, the Congress leader later made a strong plea to the government that it send the legislation to the Standing Committee for wider consultation.

He said over 140 countries have GST measures and Indian could have ‘borrowed’ and ‘learnt’ from them to come out with a law which would help it to be ‘in the front line of developed countries’.

Attacking the government for changes made in an earlier version of the bill brought by the UPA, Moily said the National Democratic Alliance dispensation should inform the opposition if it had ‘decided’ not to send bills to Standing Committees so that they do not ‘waste the time of Parliament’.

He said the government would not be doing any charity by agreeing to demand for sending it to the Standing Committee.

Leaders of the Shiv Sena, the Telugu Desam Party, the Lok Janshakti Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal  and smaller parties including National People's Party, Sikkim Democratic Front and Republican Party of India (Athawale) were present as also representatives of the Shetkari Swabhiman Paksha and Apna dal were present. Former Speaker P A Sangma of the National People's Party has also been approached.

Unfazed by government stand, Congress leaders stuck to the demand for sending the key reform measure to the Standing Committee.

Deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma was firm in the demand.

"We are for legislative scrutiny of the bill", said Sharma. His remarks are significant as The NDA does not have majority in the Upper House where the opposition can call the shots.

At the All India Congress Committee briefing, party spokesman Gaurav Gogoi lamented the Narendra Modi dispensation's frequent attempts to ‘bypass’ the Parliamentary Standing Committee route for bills.

"Out of 51 bills brought by the government, only seven have been referred to the Standing Committee. Why the Standing Committee route is being bypassed?" he asked making a strong pitch for GST bill to be referred to such a panel

Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) admitted that GST would be a game changer, but demanded that it should be referred to the Standing Committee for scrutiny.

Observing that GST was levied in European countries at the rate of 13 per cent, Mahtab said it should not be as high as 27 per cent.

“The GST rate should be kept low to promote growth and keep the inflation low," he said, adding efforts should be made to preserve the fiscal autonomy of the states.

He also suggested introduction of the green tax outside GST to benefit the mineral bearing states. The Centre should also consider raising the voting share of states in the GST council from two-third to three-fourth to prevent centre from exercising veto power.

Rahul Shewale (Shiv Sena) demanded that the government should safeguard the interest of local bodies while implementing the GST. "They should be allowed to collect octroi to raise resources for developmental activities".

Extending support to the GST Bill, Ravindra Babu Pandula (TDP) suggested that the government should clarify on the issue of appellate authority, while K V Reddy (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) felt the GST would strengthen supply chain and reduce corruption.

Jitendra Choudhury (Communist Party of India-Marxist) demanded that the bill should be referred to the Standing Committee as there were issues on which clarification was needed.

Taking the government to task, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) reminded the BJP-led ruling coalition that GST was the brainchild of the UPA and the Finance Minister had accused them of resorting to ‘tax terrorism’.

"I want to know from the finance minister whether this bill is tax terrorism. If not, then he should apologise to the opposition parties," he said. V Varaprasad Rao (YSR Congress) wanted inequality among the Centre and the states to be avoided, saying while the Centre could impose excise duty on tobacco, the states cannot. He sought inclusion of alcohol in the GST soon.

He also wanted reduction in the estimated 27 per cent rate of GST, saying several nations like Australia and Singapore had the tax rate pegged between 5 and 10 per cent.

Clarifying that the Nationalist Congress Party was not opposed to GST per se but the walkout by its members was on procedural grounds, Supriya Sule sought reduction of the GST rate to a ‘realistic’ level and steps by the Centre to resolve inter-state issues.

She said the rights of smaller states should not be ignored and wanted the Centre to handhold states for 10 years instead of the proposed three to five years.