GST Council clears support bills, stuck on dual control

While the April 1 rollout target looks virtually impossible, GST Council tweaked the compensation mechanism to allow bi-monthly payment to states instead of previously decided quarterly payout. The issue of dual control and the all important IGST legislation, which has been hanging fire for past three meetings, will be taken up at the next meeting on January 3-4. Briefing reporters after the 7th GST Council meeting here, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said draft CGST and SGST, which are mirror images of each other, were cleared along with compensation law. “If you ask me what are the principle residuary items left, the main item of course is the IGST and dual empowerment issue. The second is the legally vetted language which will be placed in the next meeting on January 3-4,” Jaitley said, adding that the Council will take up items in each tax bracket after that.