NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today assured the Centre that his government would soon place the State GST Bill in the assembly for consideration and passage. In his speech at the third meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog here, he also sounded a note of caution, saying Tamil Nadu should not be allowed to suffer for want of compensation for loss of revenue on account of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
The GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies, will be rolled out from July 1. "A historic reform of indirect taxes in India has been achieved with the passage of the Central GST, Integrated GST and GST Compensation Acts in Parliament. The Tamil Nadu GST Bill will be placed before the State Legislative Assembly shortly," Palaniswami said. In his speech, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaih said the GST has forged a new model of cooperative decentralisation in the country.
"GST has shown us that states and the Centre can come together and reach a consensus in the best national interest even on such complex issues," he said. Noting that an important aspect in the successful and sustainable implementation of GST is compensation to states for loss of revenue, the Karnataka Chief Minister said, "The timely release of compensation to states under GST will be an important factor in ensuring that the relationship of mutual trust is maintained between the Centre and the states."
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said his state is matching the Central government step-by-step in implementing its visionary programmes and initiatives. Rupani said Gujarat has achieved sustained high growth in agriculture sector with a marked development in horticulture and cash crops.