Former member of Parliament and former Expenditure and Revenue Secretary, N K Singh has been appointed Chairman of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, as per the notification issued by the Finance Ministry. The Union Cabinet had on November 22 approved the setting up of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
After his appointment, N K Singh said that it is imperative for such a panel to examine implications of GST on finance of the Centre and states.
“The fact that GST was propelled through several constitutional amendments which included the states being participants in these constitutional amendments enjoins upon any Finance Commission the need to examine implications of GST in terms of finances of both the Centre and states because this is about the fiscal issue of the general government,” Singh said.
The commission will review the current status of the finance, deficit, debt levels, cash balances and fiscal discipline efforts of the Union and the states. It will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for sound fiscal management.
IAS officer Arvind Mehta will be the Secretary to the Commission.
Further, former Finance secretary (Dept of Economic Affairs) Shaktikanta Das (IAS:1981:TN) and adjunct professor of Georgetown University Anoop Singh will be its full-time members. Chairman of Bandhan Bank Ashok Lahiri and NITI-Aayog member Ramesh Chand will be part-time members.
As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states.
The new Finance Commission will cover five-year period commencing April 1, 2020.
The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020.
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