By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 04, 2017: EIGHT States have passed the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Act in their respective State Assemblies in less than a month's time. The Legislative Assembly of Telangana State passed the State GST Act on 9th April, 2017, that of Bihar State passed it on 24th April, 2017, Rajasthan Assembly on 26th April, 2017, that of Jharkhand on 27th April, 2017, Chhattisgarh Assembly on 28th April, 2017, that of Uttarakhand on 2nd May, 2017, Madhya Pradesh Assembly on 3rd May, 2017 while the Assembly of State of Haryana passed the State GST Bill today i.e. 4th May, 2017.

Earlier the GST Council had approved the model State GST (SGST) Bill in its 12th Meeting held on 16th March, 2017. The remaining States/UTs (having Legislative Assembly) are likely to pass the State GST Bill in their respective Assemblies before the end of this month, except one or two States which may pass the same in early next month.

The next GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held at Srinagar, J&K on 18th and 19th May, 2017. The Central Government has already informed that GST will be rolled-out from 1st July, 2017. The quick passage of the State GST Act by the different State Assemblies in a time bound manner shows the keenness on the part of the State Governments to ensure that implementation of the GST in letter and spirit is not further delayed and takes place from 1st July, 2017 as targeted by the Central Government. The officers of the Department of Revenue, Government of India led by the Revenue Secretary, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia and the concerned officials of the State Governments have already started the outreach programme in order to create general awareness among the people at large and stakeholders in particular and remove their doubts, if any, about the various provisions of GST and its related legislations.