Law for Compensation of States cleared by GST Council

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, at its 10th meeting, ratified the draft law for compensation to states. However, it could not ratify the three enabling laws — Integrated GST (IGST), State GST (SGST) and Central GST (CGST) draft laws because of some contentious issues that cropped up. These three enabling laws are now expected to be ratified by the GST Council in its next meeting, on March 4 and 5 in New Delhi. If they are ratified, they would be taken up in Parliament during the second half of the Budget session starting March 9.

It was also decided at the meeting, held in Udaipur, that a fourth law, for Union Territories, would also be drafted on the lines the SGST draft law, and would be cleared by Parliament, said senior government sources.

After the meeting, Jaitley said that the next step will be regarding which commodity will come in which slab. After the meeting on March 4-5, revenue department officials will have to fit each item against a particular slab.

Based on the SGST draft law, a UTGST law is expected to be drafted. This will be for Union Territories and will be cleared by Parliament.