Deadlock over dual control continues, GST Council to meet again on January 16

New Delhi: The 8th meeting of GST Council failed to break deadlock over the issue of dual control of assesses under the new indirect tax regime, an issue that has been holding up supporting bills essential for the GST rollout from April 1 next year.

The Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will meet again on January 16 to hammer out the differences on which assessees will be controlled by states and who would be governed by centre.

We know the difficulties, we are moving against time. Dual control is a complex issue. We started a decision that was inconclusive. We have decided to meet on January 16 to untie the knots in this issue," Jaitley told reporters here after the two-day GST Council meet.

"We will be meeting to conclude the discussion on the gaps in draft laws. The gaps, are on two issues. The first pertains to the definition of the word territory (in iGST) and the second is on dual control and cross empowerment," he added.

While representatives of opposition-ruled states were unanimous in saying April 1 target date for rollout of the new regime is not possible, even BJP-ruled Gujarat said GST could become a reality from September.

The Council, headed by Jaitley and comprising state representatives, agreed on most of the clauses of the draft IGST law, which along with Central-GST (CGST) and State-GST (SGST) have to be passed by Parliament and state legislatives respectively before the new tax regime can be rolled out.