GST: Veyopar Sena calls for removal of ‘coercive’ provision

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 28

TheVeyopar Sena, Punjab, today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, seeking the removal of the “coercive provision” from the newly introduced GST Bill.

Written by the Veyopar Sena, Punjab, president Ravinder Dhir, the letter reads: “We want to register our protest for the coercive provisions inserted in the GST bill introduced in Parliament on March 27. We know that this bill is going to become reality, therefore we are afraid that these coercive provisions will not be in the best interests of the trade and business community. We are not going to quote different sections relating to these coercive provisions which empower government officials to arrest a businessman and put him behind bars for five years, forfeit his property, take action against him if he does not pass the cut in tax to the consumer and so on as well as some other provisions.”

The letter said: “Our second issue is regarding the composite scheme for those manufacturing units whose turnover is less than Rs 50 lakh. These units hardly earn up to 5 per cent on their turnout and as such the tax rate of 1 per cent is on the higher side. This rate should not be more than 0.25 per cent.”