Subramanian Swamy seeks action against P Chidambaram on GSTN security issue

NEW DELHI: Continuing his tirade againstGSTN, a company that has been formed to create IT backbone for GST, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy today demanded action against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, claiming no security clearance was taken for the firm set up during the UPA regime.

Swamy tweeted that the Finance Ministry admitted in an RTI reply that necessary security clearance was not obtained while setting up the GST Network (GSTN), which will deal with sensitive information.

"MoF by RTI concedes that the necessary security clearance for GSTN was never taken! PC be prosecuted for this," he said.

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) is the special purpose vehicle that was formed under the previous UPA regime to set up the information technology framework for rolling out the indirect tax regime that will replace a string of local levies.

Last month Swamy had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising strong objection to the majority stake for private entities in GSTN to manage and control accounting and collection of GST.

Stating that the present equity structure of GSTN is "anti-national", he had urged the Prime Minister to ensure it is replaced by a government-owned structure.

The government of India holds 24.5 per cent stake in GSTN while state governments together hold another 24.5 per cent. The balance 51 per cent equity is with non-government financial institutions, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance.

Alleging that GSTN has "appropriated" around Rs 4,000 crore in expenses and fees for its preliminary exercises, Swamy had asked why "private profit making entities have any stake, and that too majority stake" in a Section 25 company, which is a not-for-profit organisation.