The GST compensation to some states is being delayed as the accountant general's authenticated certificate has not been made available, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. She added that Kerala has not sent a single certificate since FY18.

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Replying to a supplementary question in the Parliament, the Finance Minister also said that Rs 86,912 crore was released for GST compensation payable to all states till May 31, 2022. According to the law, the GST Council decides who the compensation is to be released for, and not the Centre.

“AG's certification is (mandatory) by law between the Centre, states and the AG, and it is an agreed process,” she said, adding that if there is an delay in getting the AG's authentication, then the state government and AG must sort it out. “If between them there is a problem, the authentication certificate gets delayed in reaching the Central government,” she said.

Sitharaman underlined that to get GST compensation, state governments have to do a lot more. “The state governments have to, pardon me for using the word, be efficient to sort out things with the AG. But without AG certificate, beyond certain limits, it is very difficult for me to go,” she said.

The Finance Minister said post the GST induction, Kerala had not sent a single AG certificate for GST compensation from FY18 to FY21, and depsite that the Centre has been accused for not releasing the funds on time.

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She urged Kerala MP N K Premachandran, who asked the supplementary question, to sit with the state government and request it to send the AG certificates in one go.

Sitharaman said that she would clear the compensation within a reasonable time after receiving the certificates. “You have not sent (the AG certificate) even for one year and you keep blaming us that we are not giving you money on time. On the contrary, in the matter of tax devolution, as per finance commission report, two instalments instead of one have gone to all states. Kerala was also benefited from that,” she said.

Sitharaman added that Tamil Nadu's AG certificate was received for FY18 and the amount for the same was released. She said the AG's certified figure of around Rs 4,223 crore for FY21 for Tamil Nadu, has been processed and would be cleared even though there are some disputes.

“But otherwise, overall all states up to May 2022, for which payment goes in early June, every amount has been cleared which is available in the public fund. The total amount given is Rs 86,912 crore that was released by May 31, 2022,” she said.

With PTI inputs

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