Tuesday, March 22 2005 12:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Taken aback by the decision of certain States not to implement Value Added Tax (VAT) from April 1, 2005 a review meeting of States Finance Ministers had been called on March 24 in the capital, West Bengal Finance Minister and Chairman of the empowered panel on VAT Asim Dasgupta said.

Speaking to reporters after presenting the State Budget in the Assembly in Kolkata yesterday (Mar 21, 2005) Dasgupta said, "I am surprised over the decision of these States not to implement VAT from that date."

He said that the meeting had been called to convince the concerned States to implement the new taxation for the benefit of all sections of society and the Government.

Recently, all the five Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and Jharkhand had said that they would not implemented VAT from April 1, 2005.

In addition to these States, Uttar Pradesh had already announced that it was not going ahead with VAT. Tamil Nadu had also said that VAT would be implemented there only if it was introduced by all other States from that date.

Asked whether VAT would be introduced in West Bengal from the beginning of the next financial year, Dasgupta said, "We are going ahead with VAT and there was no backtracking on this."