Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that no consensus have been made between Centre and States on the issues of dual control and definition of territory.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that no consensus have been made between Centre and States on the issues of dual control and definition of territory. (Source: PTI)

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that no consensus has been reached between Centre and States on the issues of dual control and definition of territory. Jaitley, speaking to media, said that next meeting to discuss differences will take place on January 16th. “IGST has 11 chapters, initial ones discussed, few remain;because discussion was inconclusive will meet again on 16 Jan,” Jaitley after GST council meet.

“Definition of territory and dual control are two key issues that are pending,” he added. Though no consensus have been reached, Jaitley said that states have a very positive attitude towards resolving differences. Speaking on the issue of reaching April 1st deadline, Jaitley said: “We know the difficulty, we are moving against time that is why we are meeting on 16 Jan.”

Jaitley said that revenues in terms of both, direct and indirect taxes will be higher estimated. “We will end the year with higher revenues in both direct and indirect taxes, will exceed budget estimates,” said Jaitley.

Dual control and definition of territory have been the key issues preventing Central Government from meeting the April 1st deadline. In council’s last meeting, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that GST’s primary drafts for Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) have been approved. However, no consensus was reached on the issues of dual control and cross empowerment issues still remain to be resolved.

There is an issue with Integrated GST (IGST) Bill and dual control regarding division of jurisdiction and administrative powers over tax assesses between the Centre and the states.