Former union finance minister P. Chidambaram who was recently in Kolkata, just before the launch of his book ‘Fearless in Opposition: Power and Accountability,’ said that the government should not rush GST through. “According to me there are things that have to be done,” Chidambaram told the Telegraph.
When asked whether he would suggest an October 1 launch, the veteran leader said, “According to me there are three things that have to be done. One, the laws have to be passed after due deliberation. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed two laws. The other laws have to be passed by 29 (state) legislatures. There must proper deliberation instead of rushing through with it after two or three hours of debate.”
He further added, “Also, industry must get ready. Large industry may be ready by hiring some top grade accountants, but what about the small and medium businessmen at the local level? You have to give them time to adapt to the new (tax) regime. Every transaction must have a paper trail. So people should be ready.”
While talking about the glitches that might come, Chidambaram said, “the GST network is said to be ready. Accepted. But you have to run it to see and only then will the glitches be known. Glitches have to be ironed out. Otherwise, there will be too many disputes between states. You have to give it a trial run. The GST has to be introduced on a trial basis for two months.”
“When all the glitches are ironed out, the final GST will come. I think the correct thing would be to set October 1 as the start date. What is the big hurry when we waited so many years,” he asked.
