Meghalaya cabinet regularises decision to revise fuel tax rates

The Meghalaya Cabinet onWednesday regularised the decisions of the government torevise the tax rates for petrol and diesel twice this month,reducing fuel prices by over Rs 7 per litre, Chief MinisterConrad K Sangma said.

The tax rate was first revised last week which slashedthe retail prices of both petrol and diesel by Rs 2 a litre.

The state government on Tuesday again lowered value-added tax(VAT) on the two petroleum products resulting in reduction inthe prices by over Rs 5 per litre.

''Earlier we had done it for Rs 2 and yesterday weagain revised the new tax rates for petrol and diesel. Boththese decisions were regularised in the Cabinet today,'' Sangmatold reporters.

It was also decided at the Cabinet meeting that tribalmining leaseholders will have to pay 100 per cent of the stampduty in line with a court order, and not just 50 per cent, aswas initially interpreted.

''There was a court order that required miningleaseholders to pay 100 per cent of stamp duty. It wasinitially thought that the mining lease falls under theinstrument of conveyance wherein schedule caste/schedule tribelessees need to pay only 50 per cent of the stamp duty,''Sangma said.

The chief minister asked all mining leaseholders toimmediately pay the rest of the 50 per cent stamp duty withinMarch 31 next.

''We are expecting to get an additional Rs 27 crorethrough this,'' he said.

The Cabinet also decided to amend the Meghalaya FiscalResponsibility Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2006 which willenable the government to borrow up to 5 per cent of thestate's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

''You are aware that because of the COVID situation,the government of India has allowed all states to borrowadditional 2 per cent. Accordingly, an ordinance was passed toamend the FRBM Act to allow the state government to take up to5 per cent of the overall GDP as debt,'' Sangma said.

The state Cabinet also approved the appointment of 45junior engineers under the Public Health Engineering (PHE)department bypassing the Meghalaya Public Service Commission(MPSC).

''The PHE department had conducted interviews and about45 junior engineers needed to be appointed urgently. There isa shortage of manpower for the implementation of the JalJeevan Mission,'' the chief minister said.

The Jal Jeevan Mission is a drinking water supplyproject.

The recruitment procedure when undertaken through theMPSC could take more than a year to complete, he said.