GST Bill tabled in Karnataka assembly

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday tabled the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Bill in the assembly.

The SGST Bill seeks to amend the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, so as to facilitate the roll-out of the new indirect tax system from July 1.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular lawmakers urged Speaker B.M. Koliwad to ensure a detailed discussion on the SGST Bill since, they said, many members were unaware of its various provisions.

“We are not in favour of the SGST Bill. We want a detailed discussion on it,” said JD-Secular lawmaker Y.S.V. Datta.

Intervening in the debate, Siddaramaiah said the assembly could not change the SGST Bill’s provisions through a debate.

“What were the 17 BJP lawmakers from Karnataka doing when the GST Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha? Wasn’t JD-S lawmaker H.D. Deve Gowda present in the Lok Sabha when the GST Bill was passed? Now, I cannot allocate the time for discussion,” he said.

After BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai appealed to the Speaker to facilitate “training” to assembly members on the Goods and Services Tax issue, the chair announced such a training session at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday.