Chandigarh, Oct 12 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal asked the GST council on Monday to establish a mechanism to adjudicate any dispute between the Centre and states, according to a statement.

Punjab had already rejected the Centre's proposal of borrowing by states to meet shortfall in GST revenue. The Centre and Opposition-ruled states like Punjab and West Bengal are at loggerheads over the financing of the Rs 2.35-lakh-crore shortfall in the goods and services tax (GST) in the current fiscal.

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Badal emphasised the need to establish a mechanism to adjudicate any dispute, arising out the recommendations of the GST Council or implementation, between the central government and one or more states, or between the Centre and states on one side and one or more states on the other, the release said.

On activating dispute settlement mechanism, Badal said a view was earlier expressed that there was no such provision and it was ruled out by the parliamentary standing committee set up on the GST Bill.

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It was not the correct position as the standing committee had clearly made the recommendation, which is now incorporated in Constitution as Article 279 A (11), he said.

Intervening on GST compensation at the 42nd meeting of the GST Council through video conference, Badal said the existing situation was squarely covered by the said clause, though he wished that this issue could be resolved outside this mechanism.

Without mincing any words, the finance minister said: ''We are thus close to setting up some dangerous precedents: Good bye to the Constitution. Good bye to Compensation Law. Good bye to minutes of the Council meetings. Good bye to learned Attorney General's (AG) opinion.''

Apprising the chairperson of the council and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Badal said: "There is massive responsibility on our shareholders, yours in particular. We are close to causing irreparable damage to One-Nation-One-Tax concept that is the soul of the Law.''

Badal said it was with this understanding that he had suggested a group of ministers (GoM) on the subject and was sure it would be able to look at the issues with calmness and in a far greater spirit of accommodation of concerns of all.

He demanded that the state should be compensated as per law.

"As far Punjab is concerned, our issue is simple. Give us compensation as per Law. If a pragmatic change is necessary get the law amended," Badal said.

He also mentioned that the law and compensation has not gone under any material change since beginning.

All material changes have now come through a set of circulars and executive instructions as on date they don't have the force of even a council recommendation, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)