NO SPECIAL SITTING ON GST; PRESIDENT TO PROROGUE MONSOON SESSION OF PARLIAMENT

The government on Wednesday(Sept. 9, 2015) decided not to hold special session of Parliament to pass the Constitution amendment bill for rolling out Goods and Services Tax (”GST”) bill and will recommend to the President to prorogue the Monsoon Session. 

According to Finance minister Arun Jaitley. Government was keen on special session to obtain Parliament's nod for the GST bill but opted against it "for the time being" as talks with the Congress did not yield results. Efforts to reach an agreement on the bill, which it had proposed to roll out from April 1, 2016, would continue. 

The GST bill, which has been passed by Lok Sabha, got stuck in political logjam in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. As per the procedure, after approval by the Rajya Sabha the bill will have to be approved by 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

HIKE OF 6% IN DA FOR EMPLOYEES, PENSIONERS

The Centre on Wednesday increased dearness allowance (“DA”) for its employees by 6 per cent of their basic pay with effect from July, a move that will hit the exchequer by Rs 4,436.76 crore in the remaining months of the current financial year and Rs 6,655.14 in a year. The Cabinet decision to increase dearness allowance for central government to 119 per cent from 113 per cent is a move that will benefit five million employees and 5.6 million pensioners.

Every six months, the government reviews dearness allowance. This time, Govt. has decided to increase DA by six per cent over existing 113 per cent rate. The DA rate increase is based on an average of 12-month Consumer Price Index-Industrial workers (“CPI-IW”) from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. This is in line with the 6th Pay Commission. The DA rate increase is based on an average of 12-month Consumer Price Index-Industrial workers (“CPI-IW”) from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. This is in line with the 6th Pay Commission.

Earlier in April, the government had hiked DA by six per cent to 113 per cent of their basic pay with effect from January.

DEARNESS RELIEF 

• Allowance to central government employees and dearness relief to pensioners will be effective from July 1, 2015. This represents an increase of 6% over the existing rate of 113% of the basic pay/pension, to compensate for price rise. The decision will benefit about 5 million government employees and 5.6 million pensioners. 
• The DA rate increase is an average of 12-month consumer price index-industrial workers from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.