The Cabinet Secretary, Shri P.K. Sinha reviewed the post GST implementation situation with the Secretaries and Senior Officers of the different Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. In the meeting, Secretaries/Senior Officers of different Ministries/Departments including Revenue, Textile, Food, Agriculture, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Food Processing, Railways, MSME, Rural Development, Tourism, Fertilizers, Pharma and Department of Financial Services (DFS), Chairperson and Members of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Additional Secretary, GST Council among others participated.
The review was focused on the general situation after implementing GST and consumer impact of GST implementation in particular after rolled-out on 1st July, 2017.
Sinha asked every Secretary to take-up the responsibility of addressing the GST related issues of their respective stakeholders, trade and industry. He asked them to contact and coordinate with the State Government officers of their Department to ensure smooth implementation of GST. He also asked them to make their GST Cell and Nodal Officers fully equipped to deal with any situation and to assist their respective stakeholders in post GST situation.
Sinha asked to all the Departments to ensure that there is no shortage of products and commodities especially consumer items dealt by the respective departments and asked that various machines used by dealers, retailers for computerized billing should be calibrated at the earliest as per the new GST rates. This exercise shall be completed in a time bound manner without any delay.
Special emphasis was laid on to keeping prices of essential commodities under check and all the Departments/Ministry has been asked to provide all the relevant information relating to GST concerning their Ministry/Department including GST rates on their respective websites.
All the Departments have been told to get ready to deal with the queries of their respective stakeholders concerning GST law and rates. In order to achieve the same, the officers of every Ministry should equip themselves with an updated and complete knowledge of all the details relating to GST as applicable in case of their respective Ministry/Department..
The Cabinet Secretary asked them to get more detailed feedback and in depth details from field from their respective stakeholders, officers and consumers at large after GST implementation. Accordingly, they should be fully ready to deal with it so that there is quick response to any situation. He asked them to launch campaigns to make their stakeholders and consumers fully aware about GST related matters concerning their respective Ministry/Department.
