The Kerala govt is yet to ratify the GST ACT and the CPI(M)-led LDF government, state Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac has protested against the procedures that are being adopted by the GST council scheduled on September 22 and 23.
As per the Facebook post, Kerala has strong objections to the proposals made by the center and there are different opinions on the matter. The govt. wants the center to consider different opinions as well.
Issac stated, “The agenda note for the meeting to be held on September 22 and 23 was received last evening. The first item was on the procedures of the GST council meeting,”
“The Chairman (Union Minister) will decide the sitting position of each minister. The note also stated attendance has to be registered before the meeting. The State Finance Ministers council has been functioning for the past two decades. There was no system of attendance and no dispute over seats,” Isaac said.
Issac mentioned that the central government officers failed to understand that they are dealing with state ministers and not their subordinates. So, there was no dispute over the chairmanship in the State Finance Ministers Empowered Committee for GST.
Here, the Vice-Chairman has been selected on the basis of election. The agenda for voting holds no word of consensus in it.
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“There will be majority in the Council if BJP ruled states and Union government join together and the message the note gives is that with the majority, they can decide on anything. It is condemn-able,” Issac said.
Issac is also looking forward to bring the issue at the Council meeting. The state assembly is scheduled for a sitting on September 26 and will start the discussion on GST constitutional amendment bill. Till now, the GST bill has been ratified by 16 states out of 2 state assemblies followed by president’s approval.
