Bhubaneswar, May 11: The state government today decided to enact a new legislation to levy and collect Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Odisha.
The proposed legislation will be brought during the upcoming special session of the Assembly to be held on May 17 and 18.
In another development, the Parliament has also passed the necessary legislation, such as the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill and the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to State) Bill for implementation of the GST.
Under Article 246A of the Constitution, the states are required to pass state GST bills in their respective state legislatures for implementation of the same.
State levies, such as value added tax, entry tax, entertainment tax and taxes on advertisements (display on hoardings), will be integrated in the GST.
The state cabinet also decided to amend Odisha Value Added Tax Act as the states would have limited power to levy tax.
In a departure from existing practice, three ministers - finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, food supplies minister Surya Narayan Patro and health minister Pratap Jena - briefed the media about the cabinet decisions along with chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and other bureaucrats.
Earlier, the chief secretary, who also holds the rank of the state's cabinet secretary, used to brief newspersons.
The cabinet today also approved the proposal to table the report of Justice P.K. Mohanty Commission of Inquiry into the Kalinga Nagar police firing on January 2, 2006, in the Assembly along with the action-taken report on the issue.
Twelve tribals had been killed in the police firing while resisting the construction of the boundary wall for a steel plant project, which has caused a nation-wide uproar forcing the state government to order a judicial probe.
Home secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, however, said the commission had not recommended action against any official.
Patro said most of the recommendations of Mohanty Commission included formulation of a beneficial and comprehensive scheme for land losers, provision of suitable employment to one member each of firing victims and payment of additional ex-gratia to persons injured in the police firing had already been complied with.
The cabinet also decided to exempt stamp duty and registration fee for execution of lease deeds of government land in respect of eleven ongoing railway projects. "These projects will help connecting all the districts of the state with railway network," said Patro.
It was also decided that the electricity duty on 73 captive power plants of the state would be revised from 30 paisa per unit to 55 paisa. The revision will help government generate additional revenue of Rs 875 crore every year.
The proposal to amend the law to introduce written test along with the viva-voce for the recruitment of lecturers in government engineering schools and polytechnics also received cabinet nod today.
The agriculture engineering cadre will also be restructured. There are 450 agriculture engineers working under the government.
