GST Council meet cancelled, no new dates finalised

As per certain media reports GST Council meet which was slated for November 25 was cancelled. Reports suggested that no new dates have been announced yet.

One of the reason behind cancelling of the council meet can be touted to be demonetisation effect as any amicable resolution of the sticky points may become difficult as many state governments are not in power at centre.

Another reason could also be that several state governments wanted more time on their hand to study the draft bill and go through the changes of the GST draft.

So that the landmark bill sails through the Parliament, government may agree to few changes being suggested by the states in order to let the bill pass easily without any further delay. Now officers of GST Council sub-panel will be meeting on November 25.

Centre is still on track to implement GST legislation from April 1, 2017 provided the government is successfully able to get the legislation passed through by the end of Winter session on December 16.

On November 16, the Centre had circulated the draft model GST law and the draft compensation law with the states to seek their comments. The Council meeting of November 24-25 was meant to finalise these draft bills.