Former West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra claimed that federalism in India was a thing of the past and that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council meetings have turned toxic as basic rules drafted during its inception are now being violated.
“What concerns me deeply is a steady erosion of federalism. That environment of federalism is gone. Now the environment in the council is majoritarian, toxic and acrimonious,” said Mitra at a national conference on the success of GST at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS).
Mitra, the principal chief adviser to the Bengal Chief Minister, said as per rule number 6 the GST Council should meet every quarter, but it did not.
“…for at least three years we had very appropriate and consensus-based meetings across party lines. The Supreme Court had stated that the recommendations of the GST Council are a product of a collaborative dialogue involving the Union and the states. If the GST has to move forward we have to maintain this collaborative dialogue,” he said.
He cited instances wherein Arun Jaitley as Union Finance Minister chaired meetings that were about different opinions of states.
“The states’ total debt burden is Rs 2.69 lakh crore. If we talk about West Bengal, the debt in books is Rs 10,856 crore,” said Mitra.
Source from: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/era-of-federalism-gst-council-meeting-amit-mitra-nujs-8395025/