It was a luncheon meeting to foster and further the friendship, yet Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, keen on the welfare of the State, presented a 21-page list of long pending demands and a set of concerns, both old and new, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Goods and Services Tax, Ms. Jayalalithaa was forthright. “Tamil Nadu is concerned about the impact of the proposed GST will have on the fiscal autonomy of the States and the huge permanent revenue loss it is likely to cause to a manufacturing and net exporting State like Tamil Nadu,” she said in the memorandum submitted to Mr. Modi.
Expresses happiness
Happy that some of the concerns raised by the State have been addressed, she said the GST Council as a constitutional body impinged on the legislative sovereignty of both the Parliament and the State Legislatures and completely jeopardised the autonomy of States in fiscal matters.
If at all a Council is formed, the weightage of the Centre should be reduced to one-fourth of the total votes cast and that of the States should be increased to three-fourth, she recommended.
Petroleum products
She said that petroleum and petroleum products must be kept outside GST in view of the revenue impact adding that there was a need to enable States to levy higher taxes on tobacco and tobacco products on par with the Centre, on account of public health concerns.
Expecting the extent of revenue loss under GST to be around Rs 9,270 crore for Tamil Nadu, she reiterated the need for full compensation of revenue losses suffered by the States for a period of not less than five years.
She also asked the Centre to reimburse Rs 8,590 crore — the pending compensation of CST.
On public distribution system, she said the urban population too should be covered as households eligible for allocation of subsidised food grains. Alternatively, at least 75 per cent of the urban population should be covered, as in rural areas.
Ms. Jayalalithaa also demanded the Centre’s intervention and funding for Chennai Metro Rail Extension, Phase II, as well as two desalination plants in Chennai.
DAS licence
The Chief Minister also asked the Centre to issue Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence to Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited immediately.
The applications submitted in 2012 were still pending with the Centre and the deliberate non-issuance by the previous UPA government was only to facilitate particular private business interests, she said in the memorandum.
She also requested the Centre to take up the issue of Tamil as an official language and use of Tamil in the High Court, with the Supreme Court.
