GUWAHATI, April 3— The Assam Legislative Assembly today passed the Assam Value Added Tax Bill, 2003 amidst walk out by the Opposition members, who demanded that the Bill should be sent to the Select Committee of the House for a thorough discussion on all the clauses.
As soon as the VAT Bill came for discussion in the House today, Leader of the Opposition Brindaban Goswami said that the Bill, in its present form, has some lacunae and those should be removed. He requested the Government to send the Bill to the Select Committee of the House for proper discussion on all the clauses. He said that the AGP is not opposed to introduction of the VAT system for simplification of the tax structure but steps should be taken to remove the apprehension from the minds of the people about the possibility of price rise following the introduction of the system.
Gunin Hazarikia (AGP) said that introduction of the Bill should be deferred by at least three months to ensure proper discussion of all the clauses. He pointed out that there were differences between the chief minister’s budget proposals for the year 2003-2004 and the VAT Bill regarding items to be exempted from tax. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (AGP) said that they were not opposed to introduction of the VAT system but the lacunae in the legislation should be removed and for that a thorough discussion is a must.
Bimalangshu Roy (BJP) suggested that the Bill should be sent to the Select Committee with a definite time frame. Pabindra Deka (Ind) pointed out that the Government should not be in a hurry to implement that VAT system and there should not be any problem in sending the Bill to the select committee. Sri Zoii Nath Sarma (AGP) also demanded sending of the Bill to the Select Committee.
In reply to the discussion, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that discussions on the implementation of the VAT system started way back in 1991. He pointed out that former chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had also advocated replacement of the existing Sales Tax Act with VAT and ‘he also mentioned it twice in his budget speeches. We are merely following the stand of the previous AGP-led government’. He also said that all the states have already accepted the basic principle of introduction of VAT system and the states have difference only on the date of implementation of the system. He also said that the VAT Bill was prepared as per the suggestion of the Government of India.
Not satisfied with the Chief Minister’s reply, the members of the AGP and BJP and independent member Pabindra Deka staged a walk-out from the House and the Bill was passed by voice-vote.