Finance Minister Embarrassed itself because of the GST Compensation Dues Pending to the States: P. Chidamabaram

GST Compensation Dues Pending

According to the former finance minister and senior Congress leader Mr P. Chidambaram, the Finance Minister has embarrassed itself by not paying GST compensation dues of Rs. 78,704 crores to the states for the fiscal year of 2022. The Finance Minister in its defence has said that the central government has already released eight months of GST compensation dues to the states for the fiscal year of 2022.

The Finance Ministry also stated that the GST dues of Rs. 78,704 crore is pending due to inadequate balance in the cess fund. The Finance Ministry earlier announced that the central government owes GST compensation dues of Rs, 78,704 crores to the states.
However, the former finance minister Mr P Chidambaram believes that the total GST compensation dues owed by the central government are much more than the current stated amount. The total amount is way bigger than the stated amount. He also said that only the CAG (Controller of Government Accounts) can certify and verify the correct amount of GST compensation dues pending to the states.

Meanwhile, the current Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi called it an “injustice” to the common people living there because of the constant higher fuel prices in many opposition-ruled states. The Prime Minister has also pleaded and urged the government in the opposition-ruled states to reduce the VAT which stands for Value Added Tax over the fuel prices in the national interest. He urged this to exonerate the burden of high prices on common people.

He also asked the states to adhere to the centre’s call for reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) on high prices of petrol and diesel. Earlier the NDA government slashed the excise duties on diesel and petrol last year in November in the spirit of cooperative federalism in the time of global crisis.