Madhya Pradesh Assembly ratifies GST Bill

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Assembly today unanimously ratified 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Service Tax (GST), the seventh state to do so, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan terming it as a process towards economic integration of the country.

The day-long session was called and the GST Bill was unanimously ratified by the members with a voice vote after a discussion.

"The House unanimously ratifies the 122nd Constitution Amendment bill," Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma said before adjourning the House sine die.

Earlier, the bill was tabled by Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Rampal Singh for ratification by the House following which Congress' acting Leader of Opposition raised the demand for discussion on alleged Simhastha scam and the grim flood situation in the state.

However, the Speaker turned down their demand on the ground that the purpose of the day-long session was only to ratify the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST.

Congress members, including Bala Bachchan, Ram Niwas Rawat, Mukesh Nayak, Jai Vardhan Singh and Jeetu Patwari among others, gave various suggestions for incorporating in the bill, especially the issue of high petroleum products prices in the state because of high tax rate.

State Finance Minister Jayant Mallaiya clarified that the issue of petroleum products prices is not the subject matter of GST and it is outside its purview.

Chouhan highlighted various provisions of the GST Bill and claimed that with its implementation, transparency will increase and it will check corruption effectively.

Besides, he also clarified that BJP has not taken any U-turn on the bill as charged by the Congress, and said the party wanted that states should be compensated for full five years which was accepted by the Centre.

He also said after its implementation, investment will increase in the country which ultimately generates employment for the people and added that it will lead to economic integration of the country.

Madhya Pradesh is the seventh state to ratify 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill, Mallaiya later told reporters.