LUDHIANA: A day after TOI broke the story of central GST (CGST) department’s Chandigarh zone office accusing the Punjab government of violating the GST Act by modifying e-way bill rules “without mandatory consultation with it”, state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has said that they would not roll back the decision.With the minister also denying charges of any violation of the Act, the deadlock between CGST department and the Punjab government is likely to continue for foreseeable future.Speaking to TOI, Badal said, “We have not broken any kind of law by increasing the exemption limit under intrastate e-way bill from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and exempting job work on fabric. We followed all the rules and CGST department was intimated on time before the notification was issued.“Moreover the GST Act clearly states that states only have to intimate the CGST department, there is no need to wait for any kind of permission from them,” the minister said.He also claimed that Punjab is not the first state in country to make such changes. “In fact, we are late in doing so. Half a dozen states, including Gujarat , West Bengal , Bihar, Maharashtra, have already made similar changes in e-way bill system and some have even increased the exemption limit to Rs 2 lakh. I want to assure the businessmen of the state that they do not need to panic as we will not roll back these decisions,” the minister added.On last Friday, chief commissioner of CGST and excise (Chandigarh Zone) Manoranjan Kaur Virk had written to special secretary to Union government and member of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes John Joseph on the issue.

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