The Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday directed all fair price shop holders to register themselves under Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Informing about the decision, Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Tarun Kapur said it would be mandatory for these shop holders to register themselves so that they could avail benefit of input tax credit on goods purchased from the Corporation. “They will have to file monthly return based on the sale on the same,” he said, adding the unregistered shopkeepers would not be able to get the benefit of the input tax credit.
He said the detailed information had been made available on the website www.gst.gov.in. Kapur said the provisions under GST have been incorporated in the computer data base of the Corporation so that nobody faces any difficulty in selling goods under Public Distribution System.
In yet another decision, the department has made digital ration cards mandatory to avail ration under Public Distribution System (PDS).
“The digital ration cards were being distributed through fair price shops but some consumers had not collected their ration cards,” he said, adding such consumers has been requested to collect their cards from the depot holders as foodgrains would be distributed through these cards only in future.