With the common man suffering due to the fuel prices hitting an all-time time high in the country, the five northern States of New Delhi, Haryana, Himachal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh on Tuesday decided to constitute a sub-committee of senior officers to come out with a strategy to ensure uniformity of fuel prices in these States and give a relief to the general public.
The meeting was attended by Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia, Haryana Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu, Punjab Finance Manpreet Singh Badal and senior officers from other States and UT Chandigarh here.
While the BJP led Central Government and other BJP led State Governments have remained under fire for high fuel prices, Congress led Punjab Government has also maintained that the State cannot afford to forego revenue from value added tax (VAT) on petrol.
The Opposition parties in the State of Haryana, which hosted the conference of Finance Ministers on Tuesday, had been demanded slashing VAT on petrol and diesel. The Congress has alleged that the Haryana Government has increased VAT on petrol and diesel from 21.5 to 26.25 percent and 9.24 to 17.22 per cent respectively since 2014.
The Congress has also alleged that while the prices of crude oil are falling in the international market, the prices of diesel and petrol have sky-rocketed in the country.
The representatives of five State Governments and UT Chandigarh during Tuesday’s meeting held detailed discussion for fixing a uniform rate for value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.
Apart from this, two other issues including liquor mafia and registration or permit fee of vehicles in the northern states were also discussed.
A similar meeting of FMs of northern states was held in the year 2015 in New Delhi where, the Aam Aadmi Party is leading the State Government.
After the meeting, the three Finance Ministers, while talking to the mediapersons expressed hope to provide some relief to the public from skyrocketing fuel prices
“Suggestions have been discussed to bring uniformity in VAT on fuel in the northern states. We have decided to constitute a committee of senior officers of five participating states and union territory of Chandigarh, who would discuss all factors and work out a strategy to ensure uniformity in the prices of petrol and diesel,” said Capt. Abhimanyu.
He said that on the suggestion of Delhi Deputy CM, we have also decided to work together to deal with the problem of liquor mafia and put an end to illegal liquor trade.”
The excise officers of participating states will also held a meeting in the first week of October to discuss issues related to revenue loss, funds diversion and other excise related matters, Capt Abhimanyu said.
Similarly, Punjab Finance Minister raised the issue of variation in registration fee of vehicles in the northern states. To address the issue, the transport commissioners will also held a meeting in October, he added.
Adding to this, Manish Sisodia said, “Excise officers and Transport Commissioners of northern states will meet next month to discuss the way out to variations in excise rates, registration of vehicles and others duties leading to revenue loss and diversion in these states.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said that it was discussed that the registration or permit fee of vehicles is different in northern states and it is impacting the revenue of states. It is being observed that people from Punjab are going to Rajasthan and people from Haryana are even going to Nagaland for this purpose , he said.
It is important that a solution is worked out to address this issue so that one state does not undercut the other, Manpreet Badal said.
“A sub-committee of officers of northern states will meet in next 15-20 days to discuss the variations in petroleum prices and will come out with suggestions to ensure uniformity,” he added.
Notably, the VAT rates are highest in Maharashtra.
In northern states, Punjab charges the highest VAT of 36 percent on petrol and 17 percent on diesel. Himachal charges 26 percent VAT on petrol and 15 percent on diesel and Haryana 26 percent on petrol and 17 percent on diesel.
