Economic Times: New Delhi: Thursday, June 29, 2017.
NEW DELHI:
Sharing of details of a meeting on Goods and Services Tax(GST) chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will affect the country's "economic interest",
the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) said, rejecting a RTI plea on the subject.
The response
by the PMO invoking an exemption clause came on an application under the Right
to Information Act (RTI) seeking from it minutes of the meeting held on GST under
the chairmanship of the prime minister on June 5.
The meeting
was attended by secretaries of central government departments and other officers
concerned.
"Since
the request of the applicant is related to the economic interest of the State,
the same is exempted from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI
Act," the PMO said in its reply to the RTI query filed by Ashwini
Shrivastava.
The section
bars "information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty
and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic
interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an
offence."
The GST,
termed as the biggest tax reform, is to be rolled out from July 1
A PMO
statement issued after the meeting had quoted Modi as saying: "The advent
of the GST on July 1 marks a turning point in the country's history."
He asked the
secretaries to proactively prepare for this transformation to ensure a smooth transition,
it had said.
"The
prime minister said the world is looking at India differently today, and this
is a unique opportunity which should not be missed. Let us build mechanisms to
meet global expectations, he asked the secretaries," the statement had
said.
Another
release issued by the PMO on June 5 had said the prime minister reviewed the
status of the GST.
"The
meeting, which lasted over twoandahalf hours, was attended by Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley and topmost officials from the Ministry of Finance, the
PMO and the Cabinet Secretary," it had said.
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