Special session on GST likely before Sept second week

The Narendra Modi government is exploring a three-week window from the last week of August to the second week of September to call a special session of Parliament to enable the passage of the Constitution amendment Bill for goods and service tax (GST), Business Standard has learnt.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley faces a tight deadline of April 1, 2016 to roll out a completely new national taxation regime, which he stuck to even after the Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session. The session has not been prorogued, which means it can be reconvened.

"There is a possibility that a session of three-four days will be announced soon. A window of August last week to September second week is being explored," said a senior government official. The person said the final decision on the matter would be a political one to be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

There is a long legislative process involved with rolling out GST.

If the Rajya Sabha does pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, it will then have to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the states. After that, Parliament has to pass the Central GST Bill, and all the states will have to pass their own state GST Bills.