9 states consider moving Supreme Court on GST

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28

Opposition states are coordinating moves to approach the Supreme Court under Article 131 to avoid the chaos that could be created by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s offer to individually allow them to borrow the shortfall in GST dues from the RBI, said sources here.

The sources said at least nine states were in consensus but some among them felt they should first exhaust the political option of approaching the President and the Prime Minister.

Although Sitharaman had done her sums while announcing that out of the shortfall of Rs 2,35,000 crore, only Rs 97,000 crore was due to the states and the rest was lost due to “hand of God”, the sources said some states felt the issue should be best contested in the political domain while the question of borrowing could be explored legally.

Delhi cannot come on board as it is not allowed to borrow from other sources.