Political push needed to fix GST jurisdiction: Jaitley

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) In the absence of a consensus on who will exercise control over Goods and Services Tax assessees — the Centre or the states — Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday called for a political push for resolution of the contentious issue and fixed November 20 for an informal meeting in this regard.

A day after a major milestone was reached for a pan-India Goods and Services Tax regime, when the GST Council decided on a four-slab tax rate, Day Two of the meeting proved inconclusive in arriving at a decision on the issue of dual control, or cross empowerment.

"This (cross empowerment) is one of the key issues, discussed even in the third meeting. It was inconclusive and the discussion carried on for the entire day today (Friday)," Jaitley said after the meeting.

"Functionally, you can’t have two authorities competing for the same assessee. This situation has to be avoided. There has to be clearly defined guidelines as to who will assess whom," he said, adding this is what the political leadership in the council will discuss informally, sans aides or officials.

Jaitley also explained the next administrative steps towards what is touted as the biggest indirect tax reform in the country.

He said the members now needed to discuss four draft bills — Central GST, State GST, Integrated GST and state compensation matter for revenue losses — and that would come up at the next council meeting on November 24-25.

He said the schedule November 9-10 meeting stood cancelled.