Himachal Assembly ratifies Constitution Amendment Bill on GST

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Assembly Monday unanimously ratified the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill pertaining to Goods and services Tax (GST).

The monsoon session of the Assembly began today.

The motion for ratification of the Bill, as passed by both Houses of Parliament, was moved by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

BJP members, who had earlier in the day staged a walked out, rushed to the House to support the Bill. The motion was adopted unanimously without any discussion.

With this, Himachal Pradesh became the fourth state after Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand to ratify the Bill.

The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.

The government has set a deadline of April, 2017 for its rollout.