Ease of biz on mind, Punjab Cabinet decides to amend GST law

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 26

The Council of Ministers today gave its nod to amend Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, giving exclusive ownership of common village land (jumla mustarka malkan land) to gram panchayats.

No bulk drug park in Bathinda

The Cabinet gave the green signal to withdraw the proposal for setting up a bulk drug park at the thermal plant site in Bathinda. It said the land could be judiciously utilised for citizen-centric projects such as housing/modern residential complex/hotel and commercial units or for plastic park and solar power

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s office said as per the amendment, an insertion in Section 2(g) will be made according to which the management and control of the land reserved for common purposes of a village, under Section 18 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948, will vest in the gram panchayat.

To check stubble-burning, the Cabinet approved the amendment to the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2017, and Detailed Schemes and Operational Guidelines-2018 for biofuel projects by extending incentives to standalone units provided these install boilers based on paddy straw as fuel.

Since the technology is still evolving, where the units are unable to install paddy straw-based boilers, the quantum of incentive shall be reduced by 50 per cent.

The Cabinet also approved amendments to the Telecom Infrastructure Guidelines-2020 for setting up over-ground telecommunication infrastructure. This will allow use of “street furniture” for the installation of new-generation small cells to enable the deployment of 5G/4G infrastructure. This will improve the means of communications and benefit the people of the state.

It also gave the go-ahead to amend the Punjab Goods and Services (GST) Act, 2017, for enabling ease of doing business and facilitating taxpayers. The amendment will also help streamline provisions relating to refund. It will also ensure levying of interest only on input tax credit wrongly availed of and utilised.

In another decision, amendment to Appendix-D of the Punjab Excise and Taxation Commissioner Department (Group-A) Services, Rules, 2014, was approved. This will reduce the existing departmental exams from seven to five.

The Cabinet gave approval to the annual administrative report of the Department of Hospitality for 2021-22.

About The Author

Tribune News Service

The Tribune News Service brings you the latest news, analysis and insights from the region, India and around the world. Follow the Tribune News Service for a wide-ranging coverage of events as they unfold, with perspective and clarity.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#bhagwant mann #solar energy