Back to Business for Parliament, Despite GST Stalemate

The government has given up on the GST Bill in this Parliament session but will try and pass six other pending bills.

The government has given up on passing the GST Bill in this session of Parliament but will try and pass six other pending legislations, according to The Hindu. Leaders of all parties agreed to finally get down to business in the last three days of the session beginning on Monday.

They will attempt to pass the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, the Appropriation Bills, the Anti-Hijacking Bill, the Atomic Energy Amendment Bill, the Commercial Courts Ordinance Bill and the Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Bill by December 23 when the winter session ends.

The government sources confirmed that once the government had decided that the GST Bill was too big an obstacle, and was being used as an excuse to stall the House, there would be a change of tack and efforts would be made to clear some other Bills, where agreement existed. “We will try and make up for lost time by working late in the last three days of the session, and clear the Bills on which there is broad agreement between parties,” said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Report in The Hindu

The GST, Naqvi said, requires more time. But even if it is passed in March, in the next session of Parliament, the new law will not be implemented by the new financial year (April) as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted.