Accusation was made following denial of permission by the Speaker for a notice moved to discuss tax mismanagement.
Published Mar 01, 2023 | 2:01 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 01, 2023 | 4:39 PM
Kerala Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan. (Facebook)
The Congress-led UDF Opposition in the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday, 1 March, charged that the ruling LDF was scared of adjournment motions and that is why it did not want to discuss the issue of alleged mismanagement in the implementation and collection of GST and other taxes by the government.
The accusation was made by the UDF Opposition as it walked out of the House following the denial of permission by the Speaker, AN Shamseer, for a notice moved by them to discuss the issue of alleged tax mismanagement in the state.
The Speaker, right at the outset, denied permission for it saying that the issue has been raised and debated several times in the House and was not regarding some recent event or incident.
He, however, said that MLA Roji M John, who moved the adjournment motion, can raise it as a submission in the Assembly.
Protesting against the same, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly VD Satheesan said the issue raised was never before discussed in the House as they never received any data regarding it from the government.
The issue we have raised was not part of the budget discussion and is concerning the loss of ₹25,000 crore to the state under IGST, the LoP claimed.
It did not come up during the budget discussion, the expenditure report has not yet been made available and the state Finance Minister KN Balagopal has not answered around 400 unstarred questions regarding it raised in the previous three sessions of the House, Satheesan said.
We had to collect the information on our own regarding this issue which has serious implications for the state, he added.
The LoP was not allowed to continue speaking, briefly, leading to several UDF MLAs leaving their seats and trooping into the well of the House in protest.
Subsequently, when he was permitted to resume speaking, Satheesan said the aim of the Opposition to raise the issue was for a healthy discussion in the House where everyone’s suggestions can be heard for improving the tax administration of the state and increasing its tax revenue.
“So if we cannot hold discussions like this, what is the legislature for?” he asked.
Satheesan further said, “The government was in an embarrassing position right now as it was scared of Rule 50 notices (for adjournment motions). We are strongly protesting against the government stand and walking out.”
Balagopal, in response to the Opposition allegations, said that the government was ready to discuss the issue raised, but there was no need for moving an adjournment motion for it.
He said that for the entire month of March, the Assembly would be discussing financial matters and added that Kerala’s tax administration has improved considerably.
Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Wednesday refuted the UDF Opposition claim in the Assembly that the state has not got ₹25,000 crore from the IGST pool, saying it was a “smokescreen” being created by them.
Balagopal, speaking to reporters within the Assembly premises, said that while there were issues with regard to the implementation and collection of IGST, these were being worked out and the situation was not as serious as depicted by the opposition.
He said that the Opposition claim in the House that such a huge loss has been incurred to the state was ‘baseless’ and such statements were not politically or constitutionally correct.
The minister said that raising such issues, only to demean and defame the chief minister and other ministers, indicated the lack of issues with the opposition to discuss in the House.
Balagopal said that the issues of Kerala not getting its share out of the IGST pool and the non-functioning of automatic number plate cameras (ANPR) at the borders were issues that have been raised in the past in the assembly by the UDF.
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