Kerala FM Mani is GST Committee Chairman

Mani's appointment has re-established the tradition of having aN FM of the opposition-ruled state to be chairman of the Committee

Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani (pictured) will head the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, a key person for the Centre to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the targeted date of April 1, 2016.

"Based on wide consultations with all the states and Union Territories, there is general consensus that Mani...may take over as the new chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers," the Union finance ministry said in a statement. This is an important development for the implementation of GST, it added. Mani's appointment has re-established the tradition of having a finance minister of the opposition-ruled state to be the chairman of the Committee, broken by appointment of then Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather. Kerala is ruled by a Congress-led coalition. Mani, 78, belongs to the Kerala Congress.

Mani holds the records of having presented the maximum number of 13 Budgets in the Kerala Legislative Assembly as finance minister and also as the longest-serving member of Kerala Assembly.

He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving minister in the Kerala government and continuously representing  Palai legislative constituency since its inception in 1965.

The Committee had held a meeting under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on Friday here. Fourteen ministers from the states and UTs attended the meeting. Jaitley was authorised to select the chairman in consultation with the state finance ministers, who could not attend the meeting due to various reasons such as the Budget session in their respective states.

At a function on Wednesday, Jaitley expressed the hope that the constitutional amendment Bill to roll out the GST would be passed in the next leg of the Budget session beginning on April 20.

GST requires to be passed by each House of Parliament by a two-third majority. Besides, assent of at least half of the states --15-- has to be obtained for the Bill. After this process is over, GST Bills have to be passed by Parliament and respective state Assemblies. That is why, the post of chairman of the Committee holds importance.

Earlier, a few states  such as West Bengal had expressed reservations over the way the constitution amendment Bill on GST was tabled in the Lok Sabha.

The post of the chairman fell vacant as Rather lost the Assembly elections from the Charar-e-Sharief constituency, ending his 37-year stint in the J&K Assembly.

The committee was set up by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2000. It was mandated with facilitating the states to switch from sales tax to the value-added tax (VAT) regime. On April 1, 2005, state-level VAT replaced sales tax in a number of states; some, such as Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, joined later. Subsequently, the committee was mandated with facilitating states to switch to GST, in consultation with the Centre.

Former West Bengal finance minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Asim Dasgupta was the committee's chairman since its inception till 2011. He was followed by Bharatiya Janata Party's Sushil Kumar Modi and, subsequently, Rather.

Under Rather's chairmanship, Jaitley was able to broker an agreement with the states on GST, before tabling a constitutional amendment Bill in this regard in Parliament. However, some states such as West Bengal did point out that they were not consulted on changes in the Bill.

Except for Rather, the two earlier chairmen were from the opposition-ruled states. Modi was selected when Pranab Mukherjee was the Union finance minister during the United Progressive Alliance regime.