VAT's April 1 debut hits roadblock

Available indications suggest that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers has raised fresh doubts over the readiness of states to implement VAT, and is believed to be in favour of postponing the April 1 deadline.
Ramesh Chandra, principal secretary to the Empowered Committee, said here on Wednesday that several ''procedural problems'' in the implementation of VAT had cropped up, casting doubts over the readiness of states to introduce the new system of tax.
He said that the Empowered Committee, which met on Tuesday, conferred on 22 contentious issues that were likely to stand in the way of implementation of VAT. Mr Chandra said these issues will be discussed over the next seven days by the state finance ministers, and the possibility of postponing the April 1 deadline and setting a fresh date too will be decided by them.
Mr Chandra was addressing an interactive session on VAT in the city on Wednesday. Significantly, Union finance minister Jaswant Singh confirmed the introduction of VAT from April 1, ''03 while delivering his Budget speech, quoting from the conference of state chief ministers, which had taken the final decision on the reformed domestic trade tax system.
The conference, held on October 18, ''02, was presided over by Prime Minister AB Vajpayee.
When contacted, a member of the Empowered Committee said, "A number of differences have cropped up among finance ministers at the committee''s last meeting on Tuesday. We have discussed these differences and issues standing in the way of introduction of VAT and have forwarded our recommendations to Union finance minister, Jaswant Singh. The Union finance minister has informed us that necessary steps were being taken to sort out the issues raised by the Empowered Committee," the member said.
He, however, refused to confirm whether VAT would be delayed because of these last minute hitches.