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On Tuesday, the Narendra Modi Government finally managed to table the Constitution Amendment Bill for the Goods & Services Tax in the Rajya Sabha. But, pandemonium in the House prevented it from being taken up.
While moving the Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley alleged that the Congress wanted to stall the country’s economic progress and that it was merely using the Lalit Modi-Sushma Swaraj issue as a pretext.
“The real reason is that they do not want the Indian economy to grow, and that is why, session after session, they have been looking for one pretext or the other to make sure that the GST legislation, which will give a boost to India’s GDP and economy, is not passed,” he said.
Tough passage Though the Bill is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday, with just two sittings left in the ongoing session, the possibility of it sailing through seems difficult. This, in turn, will affect plans to implement the GST regime from April 1 next year.
Once passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Bill will go back to the Lok Sabha for approval on amendments.
The day’s events also disappointed the stock market, with the benchmark BSE Sensex losing over 235 points to close at 27,866, while the NSE Nifty fell below the psychological 8,500-level and closed at 8,462 with a loss of over 63 points. Jaitley’s remarks while tabling the Bill further fuelled the protest by the Congress and compelled Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien to rule that the House could not proceed in the pandemonium and adjourn it for the day.
According to the Rules, such a Bill cannot be voted until the House is in order. A majority of at least 2/3{+r}{+d} of the members ‘present and voting’ is required for the Bill to pass. Later, Jaitley said the government has various alternatives to get the Bill passed. He, however, refused to spell them out.
R Muralidharan, Senior Director, Deloitte in India, said: “The government needs to consult industry to put in place a better and more acceptable GST…With only two days left for the Parliament session, it remains to be seen whether a positive message goes to global investors by way of passage of the Bill in Parliament.”
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