West Bengal govt. asks Centre to take decisions at GST council by consensus

"Post decision of the SC, 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"

The West Bengal government on Tuesday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asking her to take decisions at the ongoing GST Council meeting by consensus, shunning "majoritarianism".

In a two-page letter to Ms. Sitharaman, the Principal Chief Adviser to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Finance Department, Dr. Amit Mitra, cited a recent judgment of the Supreme Court in this regard.

"Post decision of the SC, 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," the former Finance Minister of the State said. 

The Supreme Court on May 19 ruled that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) council's recommendations are not binding on Union and State but have a persuasive value as the country has a cooperative federal structure.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath also held that the Centre and State governments have simultaneous powers to legislate on GST but the council must work in a harmonious manner to achieve a workable solution.

Mr. Mitra said in the letter, "On the backdrop of this extremely significant observation of the honourable apex court, it has become extremely important for the GST council to invariably arrive at a consensus for taking any decision."

The two-day GST Council's 47th meeting is underway in Chandigarh to take a call on several key recommendations by ministerial committees aimed at making the tax system more efficient.