Government mulling to prepone Winter session of Parliament

Seeking to prepone the Winter session of Parliament, the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry has called a meeting of all Union secretaries on Wednesday to discuss key legislation, including the crucial GST bill, which is likely to be tabled in the coming session.

The Winter session is generally convened in the third or fourth week of November. The government, however, is looking to commence the session from first fortnight of November. In the meeting, there will be deliberations about the bills to be tabled in the Winter session. The concerned secretaries may be asked to wind up the work for tabling the bills at earliest, sources said.

The meeting is likely to be chaired by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who is working overtime to repeat the success of the Monsoon session. In a bid to roll out the crucial Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 next year, the government is considering to advance the Winter session of Parliament to pass the CGST and IGST bills, and pave way for implementation of the new sales tax regime.

However, the sources added that the final call is yet to be taken on the matter. The government is keen for early passage of the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) bills, as it will give enough time to the Finance Ministry for implementation of the GST. The two bills are supporting legislations to the Constitutional Amendment Bill approved in the Monsoon session of Parliament.