The Puducherry Assembly today unanimously passed the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 and has became the first Union Territory to pass the SGST Bill 2017.
The bill was tabled in the assembly by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.
While discussing the bill, the Chief Minister said that, Puducherry was part of the GST council and Union Territory had been given the status of a state. He noted that the new tax regime would prevent tax evasion.
There should be no disadvantageous impact on Puducherry by the implementation of the GST, he added.
He also said that, already 80 percent of the traders had expressed willingness to migrate to the GST pattern in the Union Territory. After the Chief Minister presented his reply highlighting the features of the GST the Bill tabled by him was adopted unanimously.
Earlier the Legislative Assembles of Telangana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh , Haryana, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh passed the bill.
Earlier the GST Council had approved the model State GST (SGST) Bill in its 12th Meeting held on 16th March, 2017. The remaining States/UTs (having Legislative Assembly) are likely to pass the State GST Bill in their respective Assemblies before the end of this month, except one or two States which may pass the same in early next month.
The next GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held at Srinagar, J & K from tomorrow.
The Central Government has already informed that GST will be rolled-out from 1st July, 2017. The quick passage of the State GST Bill by the different State Assemblies in a time bound manner shows the keenness on the part of the State Governments to ensure that implementation of the GST in letter and spirit is not further delayed and takes place from 1st July, 2017 as targeted by the Central Government.
