GST Bill passed in Lok Sabha - Who has the last laugh?
PRESIDENT of CESTAT Justice Raghuram said sometime back in a trade association meeting,
When I saw the GST Bill, it is mind-boggling constitutional complexity. It is neither the exclusive list nor the concurrent list; it's a fourth dimensional animal. It is post Einstenian Physics. Heisenberg's uncertainty of quantum mechanics is elementary compared to the complexity of this. Even the political complexity of States and Union coming together on a continual basis to ratchet the policy of GST is a huge challenge. It is an economical challenge, it is a political challenge, policy challenge, an administrative challenge; it's an adjudication challenge. So that is the next animal that is waiting to pounce on you.
Well, we are almost at the pre-final stage. Yesterday the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with 336 Members voting for and 11 against. Thus the motion was carried by a majority of the total membership of the House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. A landmark in the tax legislation history of India has been created.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "So, if you are opposed to the concept of GST, you have changed in your mind or in the words of Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa". I thought that he made a very valid point. I am glad that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was smiling yesterday when he said so………..
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But the last laugh is always a louder one." - Who will have it?
Please also see today's CobWeb