A crucial meeting of the National Assembly standing committee on finance will be held on December, 1 in Parliament House to discuss 'Reformed General Sales Tax (GST) Bill, 2010' and Finance (Amendment) Bill 2010.
Sources in National Assembly Secretariat told Business Recorder on Friday that the meeting of National Assembly standing committee on finance would be held on December, 1, 2 and 3, 2010 to discuss the two bills.
They said that Fauzia Wahab would chair the standing committee meeting and Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh, Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique and FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed, along with their top officials, would also attend the meeting to answer any question raised by members on the two bills.
They said that on the first day public hearing on the Bill would be conducted while, on the other two days General Sales Tax Bill 2010 would be discussed. Fauzia confirmed that the meeting would be held on December 1, 2010, which would continue for three days. She said that the committee would discuss Reformed General Sales Tax Bill, 2010.
The Upper House of the Parliament has already approved recommendations on the Bill. In the Senate, Awami National Party (ANP) supported the Bill because its recommendations were accepted by the government. Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) showed soft corner by staging walkout from the Senate, instead of participating in voting on the Bill. PML-N, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) opposed the Bill.
Sources told Business Recorder that if Pakistan People's Party (PPP) could not succeed in getting support of all PML-Q members on the Bill, it was certain to have the nod of about 20 to 25 members in the Lower House for approval of the Bill. National Assembly Secretariat sources said that the 27th session of the National Assembly is likely to be summoned after the meetings of the committees.