Modi government passing GST Bill may rob Congress of credit

The long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill may finally see the light of the day. The Constitution Amendment Bill on GST on Tuesday was referred to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha as the government, which is in minority in the Upper House, yielded to the opposition’s demand. The bill was first conceived 12 years ago but has failed to become a law. With the bill being sent to the House panel, it has moved a step closer to becoming a law. It will be some solace for the government as the fate of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, also conceived by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, hangs in the balance. The land bill has been referred to a 30-member joint committee of both Houses of Parliament.

# Finance minister Arun Jaitley moved the motion for referring the bill (The Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill, 2014) to the select committee. Congress floor managers in the Rajya Sabha had made it clear to the government that it will not be possible for them to back the bill in the Upper House without referring it to a select committee. Congress wants the select committee to examine the changes that were brought into it by the Modi government.

# The committee comprises Bhupender Yadav, Chandan Mitra and Ajay Sancheti (BJP), Madhusudan Mistry, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Bhalchandra Mungekar (Congress), Naresh Agrawal (Samajwadi Party), KC Tyagi (JD-U), Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress), Satish Chandra Misra (BSP), A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK), KN Balagopal (CPI-M), Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD), CM Ramesh (TDP), Praful Patel (NCP), Kanimozhi (DMK), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Naresh Gujral (Shiromani Akali Dal), Mir Mohammad Fayaz (PDP), D Raja (CPI), Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Independent).

# Strength-wise, the government apparently enjoys support of a majority of the members of the select committee. Even if the bill is not passed unanimously by the committee, it is likely to be supported by a majority.

# The GST Bill was approved by the Lok Sabha on May 6 after a walkout by the Congress. AIADMK was the only party to have declared its opposition to the economic reform measure.

# There are bright chances of the bill getting passed in the Parliament in the monsoon session as the Congress has assured the government that it will support the bill. The Trinamool Congress has already pledged support to the bill.

# Being a Constitution Amendment Bill, it requires to be passed by both Houses of Parliament by a two-third majority. Once passed by the Parliament, the bill will then need ratification of more than half of the 29 states before scheduled roll out in April next year.

# The government acceded to the opposition’s demand on the land acquisition bill too and referred it to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament. The 30-member committee will have 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha and will be headed by SS Ahluwalia, the Darjeeling Member of Parliament (MP) from the BJP.