Govt did not give time to study GST proposals, claim Opposition members

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday introduced the GST and related bills in the Lok Sabha amid objections by some Opposition members over the manner

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday introduced the GST and related bills in the Lok Sabha amid objections by some Opposition members over the manner the government had moved the proposed legislation.

A view of the Lok Sabha during the budget session in New Delhi. (PTI)

Opposition leaders KC Venugopal (Congress) and Saugata Roy (Trinamool) sought a ruling from Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, claiming that the government had not given the members enough time to study the bills.

Though the opposition members maintained that they were not opposed to the introduction of the bills, their objections were on the ground of procedural matters, saying these were not listed in Monday's agenda for the House.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs SS Ahluwalia said the bills were uploaded on the government website on Friday midnight, a remark that enraged the members.

The opposition MPs asked how could the government expect the members to check the website at midnight and why the issue was not discussed at last week's meeting of Business Advisory Committee.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi were among those who opposed the way the GST bills were introduced.

Dismissing the objections, the Speaker said the bills were circulated to the members on Saturday morning and there was nothing wrong in these being tabled.

She later gave the permission to introduce the bills.