Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on December 13 announced a thorough probe after two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from public gallery.
They were overpowered by members present in the House and security personnel.
The House was adjourned soon thereafter.
One person was seen leaping over the benches of the Lok Sabha while another was seen dangling from the public gallery spraying some tear gas, when Zero Hour was in progress, Chowdhury said.
The two persons were overpowered by the Lok Sabha members and the watch and ward staff.
Rajendra Agrawal of BJP who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.
Speaker Om Birla said the security lapse in the House is being thoroughly probed and called for a meeting of MPs from all parties later in the day to address their concerns over the matter.
As the House met at 2 pm, amid concerns raised by various leaders, including on the threat video recently released by designated terrorist Gurpatwant
Singh Pannu, Speaker Birla said it will not be right to discuss the issue in the House.
Birla informed the House that four persons have been arrested – two from inside the House, and two others from outside Parliament in connection with the incident.
He said the Lok Sabha is conducting a probe and the Delhi Police has also been instructed to do so.
The smoke that was released by the intruders appeared to be harmless in the initial probe, he said, adding it looked like it was sprayed to create sensationalism.
Speaker Birla called for a meeting of MPs later in the day, where he said all concerns will be addressed.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to raise the age limit for president and members of GST appellate tribunals.
The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to cap the age for president and members of the GST appellate tribunals (GSTAT) at 70 years and 67 years, respectively, higher than 67 years and 65 years specified earlier.
An advocate with 10 years of substantial experience in litigation in matters relating to indirect taxes in the Appellate Tribunal, would be eligible to be appointed as a judicial member of the GSTAT. As per the amendment, president and the judicial and technical members of the GSTAT shall hold office for four years, or until they attain the age of 70 years and 67 years, respectively, whichever is earlier.
The rules notified by the government earlier had fixed the age limit for the president and members of GSTAT at 67 years and 65 years, respectively.
The GST Council chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising finance ministers of all states and UTs, had in October approved the change in the age criteria.
The president and members of the GSTAT would be eligible for re-appointment for a period of two years subject to the age limit of 70 and 67, respectively, as per the amended bill.
Parliament had in March cleared amendments in the GST Act, enabling the creation of the Central Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals.
Following that, GSTAT was notified on 31st of July.
During the process of operationalisation of the said Tribunal, it was observed that certain provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, need to be aligned with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021.
According to the bill, the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are being aligned with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021, to initiate the administrative process for operationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals at the earliest.
A person who has not completed the age of 50 years shall not be eligible for appointment as the president or member, the bill said.
A finance ministry official had last week said that operationalising GSTATs would take about 4 to 5 months and efforts are also being made to identify infrastructure, following which the selection process of members will start.
In September, the Finance Ministry notified 31 benches of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which will be set up in 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
Setting up of state-level benches of GSTAT would help businesses by way of faster dispute resolution.
Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with the ruling of tax authorities are required to move to the respective High Courts. The resolution process takes longer time as High Courts are already burdened with a backlog of cases and do not have a specialised bench to deal with GST cases.
As per the notification, Gujarat and Union Territories — Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu — will have two benches of the GSTAT; Goa and Maharashtra together will have three benches.
Karnataka and Rajasthan will have two benches each, while Uttar Pradesh will have three benches.
West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will together have two GSTAT benches each, while Kerala and Lakshadweep will have one bench each.
The seven northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura — will have one bench.
All other states will have one bench of the GSTAT.
The government today introduced a bill in Parliament, which seeks to give immediate effect to the changes in customs and excise duties announced in the Budget.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while introducing the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha said the provisions are curbing speculative activities following changes in customs and excise duties in the Budget.
While the changes in rates of income and corporate taxes, incorporated in the Budget announced on 1st of February, are effective from 1st of April or a notified date, most of the changes in customs and excise duty rates become effective from midnight. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill 2023, will replace the “The Provisional Collection of Taxes Act of 1931.” The Bill provides for the “immediate effect for a limited period” of provisions in Bills relating to the imposition or increase of duties of customs or excise.
Sitharaman said the bill incorporates the existing provisions of the 1931 Bill.
By invoking this particular Act, we are able to temporarily ensure, till the time the Finance Bill gets passed, no speculative activities are happening, Sitharaman said.