GST Council observation important in the matter of SC Judgement on Ocean Freight: Amit Mitra

Amit Mitra urged FM Nirmala Sitaraman, to reiterate SC’s remarks and stresses how crucial it is for the GST Council to always reach a consensus before making any decisions.

The Representation is Given Below :

To
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs,
Government of India

Respected Sir(s) / Ma’am

Subject: It’s extremely important for GST Council to invariably arrive at a consensus for taking any decision

You are aware that in a recent judgment in the case of Mohit Minerals Private Limited versus Union of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has made very important observations in respect of the recommendations made by the GST Council.

The Honorable Court has observed that the recommendations of the GST Council are not binding on the Union and States and noted in this regard that the deletion of Article 2798 and the inclusion of Article 279(1) by the Constitution Amendment Act 2016 indicates that the Parliament intended for the recommendation of the GST Council to only have a persuasive value, particularly when interpreted along with the objective of the GST regime to foster cooperative federalism. the Court observed that recommendation of the GST Council are the product of a collaborative dialogue involving the Union and States and they are recommendatory in nature. To regard them as binding edicts. would distrupt fiscal federalism where both the Union and the States are conferred equal power to legislate on GST.

On the backdrop of this extremely significant observation of the Honable Apex Court, it has become extremely important for the GST Council to invariably arrive at a consensus for taking any decision.

In fact this had always been the rich culture of The GST Council. Erstwhile Hon’ble Chairperson of the GST Council, Sri Arun Jaitley and other distinguished members of the Council have always upheld the importance to reach at consensus.

Post decision of the Hon’ble Apex Court it has become imperative for the GST Council to take every decision by consensus and to leave aside any shade of majoritarianism, not only for the future credibility of GST Council but also to uphold the rich tradition of this august body.

Therefore, I would urge you to take note of these important observations of Hon’ble Supreme Court and have serious deliberations on far reaching implications of the observations of the Honorable Apex Court in today’s 47th meeting of the GST Council, to guide all future decisions of the Council, in letter and spirit.

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