CBEC developing blue-print for HR to restructure for GST

Dated 1st February, 2016

Human resource wing of the CBEC has started working on a blue-print for administrative restructuring of the department to prepare it for implementing the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), a new regime which will subsume most of the indirect taxes.

The Directorate General of Human Resource Development (DGHRD) has been directed to "initiate the exercise of formulating a proposal" for administrative restructuring of the formations under CBEC in the "ensuing GST regime", the CBEC said in a communication to its top officials. The restructuring of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) field formations will become necessary as the GST regime subsume various indirect taxes including excise duty, service tax and sales tax into one uniform rate.

The Constitution Amendment Bill on GST is stuck in the upper house as the opposition Congress is seeking three key amendments in the proposed law, derailing the government's plans to roll out GST from April 2016. The ruling party does not enjoy majority of its own in the upper house. Congress, the main opposition party in the house, wants three amendments in the bill.

It's three demands are a cap on the GST rate in the Constitution itself, removal of the proposed 1 per cent additional tax on inter-state movement of goods and setting up a judicial panel to adjudicate disputes among states. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said he hopes the Congress would "see reason" and help in passage of GST legislation in the Budget session of Parliament beginning next month.