BHUBANESWAR: The special session of the Odisha Assembly on GST today hit hurdles from the beginning with the Opposition seeking more time to go through contents of the Bills introduced by state Finance minister S B Behera.
As the House began for the day after obituary reference to some departed ex-members of the assembly, the finance minister moved The Odisha Goods and Service Tax Bill, 2017 and The Odisha Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
However, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress objected to the manner in which the Bills were pushed in the House. He sought more time for the lawmakers to study the bills before holding a discussion on the subject.
Mishra said there are 174 clauses in The Odisha Goods and Service Tax Bill, 2017 and 23 clauses on The Odisha VAT (Amendment) Bill, 2017 besides, huge annexures attached to them. Therefore, the members should be given adequate time to study and then discuss on the subject, Mishra said.
"Otherwise, the people will think that a bunch of jokers is sitting in the Assembly. We should have given more time to go through the GST and VAT Bills," Mishra said.
Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat adjourned the proceedings till 3 pm and called a meeting of Business Advisory Committee meeting to fix a time for the discussion on the twin bills.
Many members of the assembly expressed their ignorance on the Bills and said they have not gone through the contents and ascertained whether the state will benefit after passing of the bills.
While introducing the Bills, Behera said one tax structure would prevail across the country. He said the Odisha Goods and Service Tax Bill provides provision to levy tax on all inter-state supplies of goods or service except supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption at a rate to be notified as recommended by the Goods and Service Tax Council.