In 38th GST Council meeting, the council finally decided to fix an uniform rate on lottery tickets at 28% effective from March 1, 2020. The proposal was put to vote and it won 21 votes in favour and seven against it. Many Opposition-ruled states, however, did not go with the Kerala finance minister’s proposal. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman said, “Every attempt was made to keep the tradition alive but eventually the council was reminded that tradition was not part of the rulebook. It was not imposed by the council or me but on a request from a member.” Speaking to India Today TV, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said, “Rs 42,000 crore was lying with the Central government but the government didn’t pay the states its dues from August. Two days ago, only Rs 35,000 crore was paid. But that payment is for August and September. Now again, money is due for October and November. There was no discussion on Rs 44,000 crore corpus.” Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, too, said “Most states are unhappy over the way the GST Council is functioning. It’s very clear that there was some fault in the design of GST.”
