West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra will be the new Chairman of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers that is working with the Centre to roll out the goods and services tax regime.

The decision to elect Mitra was taken at a meeting convened on Friday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with State Finance Ministers ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament that starts on February 23.

Though Mitra did not attend the meeting as he is unwell, he was unanimously elected by the other State Finance Ministers. The position fell vacant after the former Chairman of the panel KM Mani resigned as the Finance Minister of Kerala in November last year.

“We are hopeful that Constitution Amendment Bill for GST will be passed in the Budget Session. We are getting support from all parties on GST,” said Minister of State of Finance Jayant Sinha on Friday.

Sources said the meeting was called primarily to elect a new Chairman for the panel. This was also indicated by Sinha who said modalities of the tax would be discussed after the Constitution Amendment Bill is passed.

“First we have to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Then we will discuss the nitty-gritty such as including and excluding items in the GST,” he said.

After missing its intended deadline of April 1, 2016 for the implementation of GST, the Modi government is trying to roll it out in the middle of the year.

While Jaitley is ensuring that all administrative infrastructure is in place for a mid-year implementation of GST, the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill in the forthcoming Session may be difficult as a consensus with the Congress is still missing.

The nearly two-month long Budget Session would conclude on May 13.

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