GST Bills Have to Wait for Next Session of Parliament
THE GST Council meeting on Sunday could not again clear the Bills and they will have to wait for the next session of Parliament in January making the April 1 target almost impossible. Finance Minister Jaitley says the Constitution does not allow the luxury of time and the last date for GST to come into effect is 16th September 2017.
What will happen if GST cannot be brought in by that date? With the States and the Centre not ready to relent on the control issue, that seems to be a stark reality staring at us. Technically, no more indirect taxes from that date. But is there no way out? It seems there is. As per Section 20 of the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016, the President seems to have the power to solve this issue
If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act (including any difficulty in relation to the transition from the provisions of the Constitution as they stood immediately before the date of assent of the President to this Act to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act), the President may, by order, make such provisions, including any adaptation or modification of any provision of the Constitution as amended by this Act or law, as appear to the President to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty.
Maybe the implementation can go beyond the September deadline.
But it is unfortunate that the whole problem is the question as to who will have control over the assessees.