VAT Deferred In UP

Kanpur: K Chandramauli, secretary, institutional finance, said as the Assembly was in session, the Act relating to VAT had to be placed before it. This can be done when the House resumes its sitting from December 4. They are, however, prepared to implement it from December 1. Shyam Bihar Misra, president of the UP Udyog Vyapar Mandal, said the reasons for the delay were that the central government had given clearance with certain amendments. Chandramauli, while admitting that the central government has suggested amendments, denied these would require a great deal of work. Misra said there were 14 goods, known as declared goods, whose rate of tax could not be more than 4 per cent, but in the proposed Act, the tax exceeded the limit. Thus the approval by the president has been with amendments. From the face of it, it appears that although there are no orders for reversing policy from the cabinet to the officials, there is likely to be rethinking about the policy in the face of unanimous trader protest. Misra says the government is keen to implement it so that it can get money from the Centre.