Telangana Assembly Approves the GST Amendment Bill

The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Thursday approved the GST Amendment Bill. The posts of ‘Commissioner of State Tax’ and ‘Additional Commissioners (Grade-I) of State Tax’ have been re-designated as ‘Chief Commissioner of State Tax’ and ‘Commissioners of State Tax’.

Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who moved the Bill in the Assembly, said that the amendment involves no financial implications and will not result in any reduction of jobs. He affirmed that the state would incur no loss whatsoever as a result of this amendment.

He said that though GST has been envisaged as ‘one nation, one tax’, there is disparity in the nomenclature between the department heads of the Centre and the state. He added that states such as AP, Gujarat and Rajasthan have already changed the nomenclature of their HoDs.

“For administrative convenience, certain functions were originally envisaged under the CGST Act to be performed by an officer one level below the cadre of the Chief Commissioner of Central Tax. However, all such functions are now vested with the Commissioner of State Tax under the present nomenclature. Hence, redesignation of the posts will facilitate the smooth conduct of day-to-day operations,” he explained.

Source from: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/telangana/telangana-assembly-approves-the-gst-amendment-bill-1946528