Equal weightage should be given to all states in GST council, says Tamil Nadu minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu minister for finance and human resources Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Friday urged the Centre to treat requests from all states equally for convening emergency meeting of the GST council.

Friday’s emergency meeting of the council was based on a request from Gujarat to discuss the proposed increase in GST rates to 12%, from the earlier 5%, on textiles and garment sector from January 1, 2022.

This is the first such emergency meeting of the GST council and we were given to understand at the meeting that it was convened based on a request from Gujarat. Taking this as a precedent, several states, including Tamil Nadu, have put forth a suggestion that such requests from other states too for convening emergency meeting of the GST council should be given equal weightage,” Palanivel Thiaga Rajan told reporters,after the GST council meeting on Friday in New Delhi.
“While Friday’s emergency meeting was convened at short notice, the government maintained that it was based on the agenda discussed at the 19th GST council meeting in 2020. Friday’s meeting decided to put off implementation of the new GST rates on textiles and garment sector and decided to pass it on to the ‘rate rationalisation’ committee of the council for consideration,” Thiaga Rajan said.

He said, the ‘rate rationalisation’ committee, constituted in September and whose tenure was two months, had never met. Similarly, the ‘gaming’ committee, in which Tamil Nadu is also a member, has not met a single time during its six months tenure.

There is also lack of clarity on who are all the members of the ‘fitment’ and ‘legal’ committees, he said.

Source- THE TIMES OF INDIA

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/equal-weightage-should-be-given-to-all-states-in-gst-council-ptr/articleshow/88625396.cms