Kerala finance minister Mani is GST panel chief

Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani ( pictured) will head the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, a key person for the Centre to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the targeted date of April 1, 2016. "Basedon wide consultations with all the states and Union Territories, there is general consensus that Mani... May take over as the new chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers," the Union finance ministry said in a statement. This is an important development for the implementation of GST, it added. Manis appointment has re- established the tradition of having a finance minister of the opposition- ruled state to be the chairman of the Committee, broken by appointment of then Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather. Kerala is ruled by a Congress- led coalition. Mani, 78, belongs to the Kerala Congress - www.business-standard.comKerala Finance Minister K M Mani ( pictured) will head the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, a key person for the Centre to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the targeted date of April 1, 2016. "Basedon wide consultations with all the states and Union Territories, there is general consensus that Mani... May take over as the new chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers," the Union finance ministry said in a statement. This is an important development for the implementation of GST, it added. Manis appointment has re- established the tradition of having a finance minister of the opposition- ruled state to be the chairman of the Committee, broken by appointment of then Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather. Kerala is ruled by a Congress- led coalition. Mani, 78, belongs to the Kerala Congress.