Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 9: A delegation of the National Conference (NC) today met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra here and discussed the party’s apprehensions over the extension of Constitutional Amendment 101 to the State to facilitate the extension of GST.
The delegation, led by the party’s working president Omar Abdullah, called on Vohra at the Raj Bhavan and sought deferment of the special session of the State Legislature beginning June 17, a party spokesman said.
He said the delegation apprised the Governor of the Party’s fears about the possible and seemingly imminent extension of Constitutional Amendment 101 and said such a plan would have wider and irreversibly adverse ramifications on the State’s fiscal autonomy and would impinge upon the residuary powers enjoyed by it.
The delegation also submitted a memorandum to Vohra and requested him to use his offices to impress upon the State Government to ensure they do not take any such arbitrary step which could have far-reaching negative consequences on the residuary powers enjoyed by the State and its fiscal autonomy.
In the memorandum, the NC demanded the State Government should call an all-party meeting and have a threadbare discussion on the form of the GST regime so as to allay the fears and concerns of the various political parties and put the entire concept in public domain for an open debate with the stakeholders.
Such an exercise should be undertaken before rushing to schedule a session of the Legislature which should be accordingly deferred, the memorandum read.
The memorandum further said the Finance Minister who is the strongest votary of GST implementation in the State, is on record of having said “come GST and neither the State Legislature nor the State Cabinet will have a say on J&K Taxation’’ and in view of such glaring contradictions, the State Government needs to clarify its stand on this crucial and sensitive issue.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
