Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam urges consensus on GST, asks PM Modi to allay fears

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today urged Prime Minister Modi to first allay the fears of the States' on the Goods and Services Tax issue, go in for consensus and then consider the GST Bill's adoption.

"The Centre must ensure that the States' fears are allayed and a true consensus is achieved before such a far reaching reform is attempted," Panneerselvam said in a letter to Modi. "I strongly urge you against hustling through the Constitutional Amendment Bill hastily as such a move is bound to have serious long term implications for the fiscal autonomy and revenue position of the States," he said.

The Centre's proposal to introduce a Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST and then to evolve a consensus on its various aspects like tax rates and bands was not acceptable to Tamil Nadu, he said. "We would rather suggest that the Centre should permit the empowered committee of State Finance Ministers to try and evolve a broad consensus on the critical issues before the enactment of the Bill is taken up."

Panneerselvam also stressed that a consensus should be arrived on the methodology and the period relating to compensation and wanted it to be included in the Amendment Bill itself.