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         Panagariya,  1st  chief  of        collections rose 10% year-on-year to  the order on an appeal filed by the
                                            1.64 lakh crore in December, official  competition  watchdog  against  the
         Niti,  to  head  finance           data released showed. That's down  show cause notice by the Directorate

         panel                              from 1.68 lakh crore in November and  General of GST Intelligence (DGGI),
         Columbia University professor and the  up from 1.49 lakh crore in the same  Delhi zone.
         first vice chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind  month the year before.      The DGGI issued the show cause notice
         Panagariya has been appointed the  Experts said the double-digit growth in  in 2020 based on an "intelligence re-
         chairman of the 16th Finance Commis-  collections reflected the underlying  port" that the CCI is not paying service
         sion. The government is, however, yet  economic momentum and the monthly  tax on the fees/consideration received
         to name the other members of the   moderation was attributable to holi-  by it while providing the services to
         panel, which has an open mandate   days and the base effect.          various persons.
         unlike finance commissions in recent
                                            "The sequential dip in the headline GST  It was stated in the show cause notice
         years, where the Centre provided a  collections between November and  that the CCI was collecting fees from
         large set of terms of reference.
                                            December reflects the impact of the  persons or enterprise that approached
         For many, Panagariya's appointment  holidays related to the festive season,  them for various purposes like acquisi-
         came as a surprise since the last four  as GST is remitted in the subsequent  tions, mergers, or amalgamations, but
         commissions were headed by those   month," said Aditi Nayar, chief econo-  have not registered under the Finance
         who had long stints either in the fi-  mist, ICRA. "The moderation in the  Act, nor discharged their service tax
         nance ministry or RBI.             pace of growth of GST collections re-  liability.
         Barring the two-and-a-half years that  flects the base effect."
         he spent at Niti Aayog, the former                                    I-T returns top 8 crore for
         Asian Development Bank chief econo-  GST authorities drop Rs.7 1st time
         mist has focused on academics. He is                                  The income tax department said that
         currently the Jagdish Bhagwati profes-  crore service tax demand
         sor of Indian political economy & pro- against CCI                    returns for 2022-23 financial year have
                                                                               crossed 8 crore, marking the first in-
         fessor of economics and director of Raj  GST authorities have dropped an Rs
         Centre on Indian Economic Policies.  7.08 crore service tax demand against  stance that the level has been reached.
                                                                               According to data released by the tax
                                            the Competition Commission of India
         GST collection in Dec up                                              department, for the last financial year,
                                            (CCI) saying the statutory body does
                                                                               returns filed increased 6.4% over the
         10% over last year                 not render any taxable service.    7.5 crore returns filed for financial year
         India's goods and services tax (GST)  The CGST commissioner audit passed  2021-22.

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