The Bihar Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 was passed in a special sitting of the Legislative Houses on Tuesday amid efforts by both the Grand Alliance and the BJP to take credit for the "historic legislation" which will transform trade and business.
Bihar thus became the second state after Telangana to adopt the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill along with the Bihar Taxation Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017, to pave the way for rollout of GST from July 1.
The bills were passed by voice vote. GST needs to be ratified by the states after its clearance in Parliament. The taxation amendment bill excludes items like fuel, cooking gas and alcohol from GST.
In the Assembly, Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley; senior Congress leader Sadanand Singh was said the previous UPA government had wanted to pass the bill in 2006 and it was the BJP which kept stalling.
"Had the bill been passed in 2006, the country would have had Rs 12 lakh crore more than what it has now and Bihar would have gained at least Rs 20,000 crore a year," Singh said.
Commercial taxes minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who moved the bills, was also quick to point out that as Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi had opposed GST.
"There is a saying that a politician only thinks about the next election but a statesman thinks about the next generation. Our leader Nitish Kumar supported the GST when he was in the NDA and has kept on supporting it when he is with the Congress," Bijendra Prasad said.
He also did not agree with the statement of Prem Kumar that Bihar will benefit greatly from GST. "But the nation will benefit and Bihar being a part of the country will benefit also," Bijendra Prasad said.
The minister, however, conceded that passing the bill with near unanimity (MLAs of the CPI-ML opposed it, declaring the bill "anti-poor and pro-rich") was a major achievement because it was happening at a time when there was so much distrust in the country. "GST will lead to uniformity of taxes and the general masses and small traders will not suffer," he said.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar told reporters that for a new system to stabilise takes some time. "But here we have started training and the software is already prepared. I had wanted the GST to be implemented by April this year. But the Centre delayed it," he said.
Nitish, speaking in the Legislative Council, described the passage of GST by all the parties together as "a historic moment".
Expressing thanks to all the members, Nitish said Bihar has been in favour of GST from the beginning. "Even after change of government, Bihar continued with its support to GST," he said.
Leader of Opposition in the Council, Sushil Kumar Modi, who had headed a ministerial committee on GST as finance minister of the NDA regime in Bihar, thanked Nitish for standing by GST.
"On his advice, I had accepted chairmanship of GST as finance minister of the state during NDA rule," he said.
Other bills
The Bihar State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and Patna University (Amendment) Bill, 2017 were cleared by the Houses. Both pieces of legislation seek to define the role of the principal of the college as a "teaching" job and not as an administrative job, thereby increasing the retirement age to 65 instead of 60.
According to UGC norms, the role of a principal is administrative.
The bill also seeks to appoint a retired Bihar Administrative Service officer as the registrar of universities, instead of teachers.
Education minister Ashok Choudhary justified the move. "The basic eligibility of the principal is that he should have 10 years' teaching experience. To exclude them from teaching is injustice and their services could be continued in teaching," he said.
Choudhary also justified the appointment of former officials as registrars.
"Teachers lack administrative skills. We need an experienced person for preparing utility certificates, balance sheets and other administrative work," he said.
The government also passed the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which seeks to deny enhanced compensation to land owners whose land has been taken and processed before 2013 when the new land acquisition act was passed by the UPA government which gives land owners four times the market rate as compensation.
"If we do not pass the bill we will have to give Rs 12,000 crore instead of Rs 100 crore to land owners. It will create tremendous pressure on state finances," said land revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha. This bill will have to be sent to the President for approval.
