Congress today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of committing contempt of Parliament by not being present in either Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha during the passage of the GST Bill. The Rajya Sabha will take up the Mental Health Care Bill and Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts 2016, apart from the Enemy Property Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha and reported by Select Committee.
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Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said this was the first occasion in independent India that the Prime Minister was not present during the passage of a Constitution amendment bill.
The GST bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with amendments and thus needs to be again approved by the Lok Sabha. He had dubbed it as “PM-mukt Parliament”.
The Goods and Services Tax Bill will be taken up again by the Lok Sabha on Monday, with nearly all political parties backing the legislation.
Aiming for early implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), top central ministers have spoken with nine chief ministers of NDA-ruled states to ensure that the constitutional amendment is ratified by state assemblies at the earliest.
State finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government’s effort would be to get the GST Bill approved by the state assembly before the current budget session ends on August 13.
The bill will then go to the Presidential for his assent and the states have also been asked to ratify it within 30 days of this.
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“We suspect that the government could bring both the bills as money bills so that there is no debate in Rajya Sabha” where it does not have a majority, he said. The 66-year-old Constitution, which gives power to Centre to levy taxes like excise, and empowers states to collect retail sales taxes, was amended though the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill. “GST will remove one hurdle to the smooth movement of goods and services and focus corporates’ location decisions on operational considerations rather than tax regimes”.
