The government plans to give a final push to the Goods & Services Tax related Constitution Amendment Bill on Tuesday. Its confidence stems from the fact that barring the Congress, all other political parties are open for discussions on it.
“This means, the revised Bill could be pushed for consideration and passage,” a top Government official said here on Monday.
Since, the Bill is meant to amend the Constitution, it will require approval of not less than two-thirds of the members ‘present and voting’ apart from the House being in order. But the continuous pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha and protests by the Congress have prevented the Bill from being taken up. The situation in the Lok Sabha is no different.
The first positive signal on the Bill came when Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav suggested that the Lok Sabha speaker could a call a meeting of leaders to end the Parliamentary logjam.
According to sources, the meeting saw the Congress completely alienated and Yadav made it clear that the deadlock should be broken. He further said that those making allegations and those against whom charges are made have a right to speak in Parliament and explain their position before the people of the country and the disruption should end.
Encouraged by this development, the official said that passage of GST Bill requires not more than two sittings of the House. “Even in din, we (the ruling party) can manage around 160 positive votes for the Bill. Still, we would prefer the House to be in order,” he said.
At present, the Rajya Sabha has 244 members. Even if 68 members of the Congress and 10 members of the Left parties walk out, abstain or vote against the Bill, the Government can still expect 166 positive votes, just above the two-third mark.
The select panel of the Rajya Sabha has already vetted the Bill and submitted the report. The Cabinet has also approved the key amendments such as full compensation for five years and change in the definition of supply for additional one per cent tax.
Once the Rajya Sabha approves the Bill, it will need technical nod from the Lok Sabha. The Bill needs the approval from at least 15 State Assemblies followed by the Presidential assent. All these will lay the foundation for the implementation of new indirect tax regime from April 1 next year.