The Delhi government announced a one-day session of the Assembly on Wednesday to pass the State Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill on May 31.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Delhi Secretariat. “The Delhi Cabinet approved convening of the session of the Assembly for a one-day sitting on May 31 for the passage of the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Bill,” the government said in a statement.
Several States including Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam have passed the State GST Bill so far. The GST is expected to come into effect from July 1.
At the two-day GST council meeting in Srinagar recently, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had pushed for the inclusion of the real estate into the ambit of the GST. Mr. Sisodia, who also holds the Finance portfolio, had framed the broad contours of the implementation of the tax regime in the Capital after a series of meetings with various stakeholders.
Real estate under GST
The Delhi government is understood to be in favour of land and real estate being brought within the fold of the GST, keeping in line with the AAP government’s anti-graft credentials. This is besides consumer durables being taxed at the lowest slab to make the GST regime consumer-friendly.
Mr. Sisodia had said during a seminar on GST in February that the government would undertake intensive consultations on the issue of bringing land and real estate under the GST to uproot corruption from government offices engaged in public dealing.
