SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Team Herald
PorvoriM: Amidst a ruckus in the House, the Goa Legislative Assembly passed 11 crucial Bills as the one-day monsoon session was held on Monday. The Goa Appropriation Bill, 2020; The Goa Motor Vehicles Tax (3rd Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Goa Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Court-Fees (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Industrial Disputes (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Goa Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020; were amongst others passed in the House despite the Opposition , who accused the govt of trying to cover up for its mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, staged a walk out.
In the Goa Appropriation Bill, an amount of Rs 286 crore approx was proposed towards ‘defraying the several charges, which will come in the course of payment during the financial year 2020-21.’ The Bill was introduced to meet the expenditure on certain services; and passed during the curtailed session.
For the MV Tax Bill, the amendment includes invoking of a new definition of “cost of motor vehicle” in section 2 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1974. As per the amendment the discount offered by the manufacturer or the dealer shall not be deducted from cost of the motor vehicle.
The TCP Bill that sought to amend certain sections of the Goa, Daman and Diu TCP Act - to exclude activities undertaken in pursuance of the permissions/licenses granted under the Mines & Minerals Act and Rules, was also passed. The Bill also speaks about generating Rs 1 crore by way of renewing/approving the grant of quarrying leases, which are unable to process now due to conflict in legislature and from issue of new quarrying leases.
The Goa Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Goa Value Added Tax (Twelfth Amendment) Bill, 2020 were also passed even as no discussion on any Bills were held due to absence of Opposition members.
