Puducherry Assembly passes GST Bill

Puducherry: The Puducherry Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 here.

The bill was tabled in the assembly by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.

MLAs of the ruling and opposition blocks participated in the debate after the bill was tabled and expressed their views on various aspects of the GST system.

They appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that there was no setback to the revenue flow to the territorial government in the wake of implementation of the GST Act.

Narayanasamy said, Puducherry was part of the GST council and Union Territory had been given the status of a state.

He noted that the new tax regime would prevent tax evasion.

The Puducherry government was keen that there should be no disadvantageous impact on Puducherry by the implementation of the GST, he said adding already 80 percent of the traders had expressed willingness to migrate to the GST pattern in the Union Territory.

After the Chief Minister presented his reply highlighting the features of the GST the Bill tabled by him was adopted unanimously.

A help desk had been set up in the Commercial Taxes Department to address the woes of the traders and others covered under the GST.

On the two-day meeting of the GST Council to commence under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister tomorrow in Delhi, Narayanasamy said, "It is a crucial meeting as it would decide which commodity will fall in which tax bracket."

The Parliament had on April 6 passed four legislations to pave the way for nationwide roll-out of GST from July 1.