New Delhi: Finance Ministry sources said that GST Council, as per the GST Act, needs only 20 states to pass any resolution, in case voting is required on any issue. With 21 on board with the first option, this could well be considered for adoption by the Council.
Among the 21 states/UTs opting for first option on GST compensation are: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Manipur, the only state which had earlier chosen Option-2, later preferred to change it to Option-1.
A few more states are, also, to give their borrowing option in a day or two.
However, states like Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal are yet to respond to the GST Council proposal.
If the other states do not submit their options before the due GST Council meet next month, then they will have to wait till June 2022 to get their compensation dues, subject to the condition that the GST Council extends the cess collection period beyond 2022, the Ministry sources said.
Under the existing GST Act, compensation for shortfall in GST collection, under an agreed formula, is payable by the Centre for the first five years of the operations of new tax system from July 2017 to June 2022.
