Given the complex legal and procedural aspects of the goods and services tax (GST), the revenue secretary's confidence in rolling out the legislation from April 2016 seems unrealistic.
First, the constitutional amendment bill is yet to be passed by both Houses of Parliament. Once passed, the bill would have to ratified by more than 50 per cent of the state legislatures. Only then would the legislative processes for enactment of a comprehensive GST law and procedure follow.
Before passing such a law, the draft legislation should be circulated for suggestions among all the stakeholders - including the departments that would be in charge of enforcing GST - followed by country-wide seminars for discussing not only the broad contours but also the nitty-gritty of the proposed law.
S K Choudhury Bengaluru
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