J&K passes GST bill, roll out at midnight
The Jammu and Kashmir assembly passed the GST bill amid walkout by the Opposition on Friday. The J&K Goods and Services Tax ( JKGST) Bill 2017, was passed by both the houses of the legislature with a voice vote.
After the vote, Speaker Kavinder Gupta adjourned the house sine die four days after the special session of assembly was called to build consensus on the implementation of the new tax regime. The GST was rolled out across India on July 1, except in Jammu and Kashmir, as people here feared that it will compromise the fiscal autonomy and the special status of the state. The bill was moved by finance minister Dr Haseeb Drabu in both the houses during separate sessions.
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti hailed the efforts of her colleagues, especially finance minister Drabu. “This day will be remembered in golden words. We have found something that we had lost,” she said.
Despite resistance by the Opposition parties — National Conference and Congress — the state assembly had passed a resolution for adoption of GST on Wednesday. Immediately after that, the state cabinet had cleared a draft of the GST for the concurrence of President Pranab Mukherjee.
Intervening during a discussion on GST in the upper House today, the chief minister described the order as an important milestone in the constitutional relations between the state and the Centre. She said that it is equally satisfying that for the first time in the state’s history, concurrence of the state government and legislature was sought by the Centre before issuing a presidential order. “Otherwise, during the past 70 years, the central laws were extended to the state in a clandestine manner, raising doubts in the minds of people,” she said.
A government spokesman said that Drabu gave a detailed account of the legislation and informed that the bill has received the assent of the President. Before moving the bill for consideration and passing by the state legislature, Dr Drabu read out the contents of the presidential order pertaining to the special status of the state and its exclusive taxation powers.
“Although there is no tradition of tabling a presidential order in the House, we are starting a new tradition in the democracy of the state by tabling this order,” he said. He added that the Proviso-3 of the presidential order clearly states that; “Notwithstanding anything contained in this order, the powers of the state of Jammu and Kashmir as per Section 5 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, shall remain intact.”