With a consensus on all the contentious issues, including on sharing of administrative powers, the Centre is hopeful that the council will give its nod to the final drafts laws

A file photo of finance minister Arun Jaitley. Photo: Bloomberg

New Delhi: The states and the Centre will meet on Saturday in Udaipur to vet the draft supporting legislations crucial for the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).

With a consensus on all the contentious issues, including on sharing of administrative powers between the Centre and the states, the Centre is hopeful that the 10th meeting of the GST council will give its nod to the final drafts of all the legislations—the central GST bill, the state GST bill, the integrated GST bill and the bill to compensate states for revenue losses arising from a transition to GST.

The council’s nod will pave the way for three bills to be tabled in Parliament in the second half of the budget session beginning 9 March and for the state GST bill to be passed by respective state assemblies.

Passage of the bills at the earliest will be imperative for the government to meet its revised GST implementation deadline of 1 July 2017.

The law ministry has vetted the legislations with all the changes that were agreed upon by both the sides, said a government official, who did not wish to be identified.

The finalization of these bills will provide more certainty to the industry and help them finalize the business processes.

After the laws, the council will focus on finalization of rules under the new tax regime. The decision​ on which item will be taxed at which tax rate will be taken at the end.