Bill to be placed in National Assembly after consensus: Khursheed

The Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) Bill, 2010 will not be tabled in Parliament for approval without first developing a consensus in the House. Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower and Chief Whip of PPP Khursheed Ahmed Shah stated this in the National Assembly on Monday while responding to a query from the Leader of Opposition. "If the House is not agreed, the RGST Bill 2010 cannot be tabled," the Minister categorically said.
"There is healthy opposition during our tenure and the government takes criticism positively and seeks to make corrections. We do not want criticism for criticism's sake in the House," he added. Responding to the query of the Leader of Opposition regarding the statement of US Ambassador on the need to implement RGST, Khursheed said that "the Ambassador may have supported the Bill, but it is parliament which shall decided on the Bill".
He said that the government wants to take all stakeholders into confidence before placing the bill in the House. About corruption in Hajj management, he said that "the matter is in the Apex Court". He added that the government had sacked two federal ministers on this issue and that such an action was witnessed only once during the tenure of Prime Minster Muhammad Khan Junejo. He said that the government was trying to make the process of Hajj transparent.
About concern of the Leader of Opposition on Business Advisory Committee (BAC), the Minister said that the decisions of BAC would be implemented in letter and spirit. He added that the government has already provided details of 15 bills, which would be placed in the ongoing session of the National Assembly.