BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today threatened to move the Supreme Court if his demand to replace majority stake for private entities in the GSTN company is not met by month-end.
The former Law Minister has set a deadline of October 31 for his demand of a government-owned structure to manage Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).
“You should replace (private entities like) HDFC and ICICI Bank (in GSTN) which are under foreigners’ control, with RBI and State Bank. Jaitley (Finance Minister Arun Jaitely) has not agreed to this suggestion and says he will continue with (former Finance Minister) Chidambaram’s things.
“If he does not rectify this before October 31, I will file a petition in the Supreme Court,” Swamy told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Nirma University here.
While the Centre holds 24.5 per cent equity in GSTN — set up to provide IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State Governments, taxpayers and other stake- holders — an equal stake is to be with States. The balance 51 per cent equity is with non-Government financial institutions.
Swamy had objected to this holding pattern in GSTN and written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the August letter, Swamy had asked Modi to subject GSTN to a “close second look” and “thorough scrutiny,” questioning how a private entity can be allowed access to “sensitive” information without security clearance.
