Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has come forward in support of Amit Mitra, his West Bengal counterpart, after the latter alleged that his dissent in the matters discussed during the 44th GST Council meeting were "muzzled".

Calling the developments "absolutely shocking" and "tragic", Isaac listed reforms needed in the GST Council to avoid such incidents in the future.

Isaac tweeted from his personal handle: "Absolutely shocking that Bengal FM Amit Mitra has to publicly complain that his voice was muzzled ,some of his comments deleted and his mike switched off in GST Council. The Council doesn’t meet for prolonged period. And this is what happens when it meets. Tragic!"

The Kerala Finance Minister further suggested urgently forming a dispute resolution mechanism to handle such matters. He even called for electing a vice chairperson for the all-powerful indirect tax panel. Presently, Union Finance Minister acts as the de facto chairperson of the GST Council, which includes finance minister or their representative from states and union territories.

Isaac also recommended forming an independent secretariat for GST Council and insisted that meetings should be held at regular intervals. The council had not met between October last year and May this year due to ongoing state elections.

Isaac's statement came after West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra alleged that his voice was muzzled during the 44th GST Council meeting as he opposed GST being levied on Covid relief items. The GST Council on Saturday slashed tax rate on Covid drugs such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, black fungus drug Amphotericin B, on medical oxygen, and oxygen concentrators, and even ambulances, sanitisers and pulse oximeters, but ignored demands for a reduction in taxes on vaccines. Mitra had suggested zero or 0.1 per cent GST on such items.

Later in the evening, Mitra tweeted, "GoI-led the anti-people move & imposed GST on vaccine, mask, hand sanitizer, oxygen, PPE, oximeter, Covid test kit, Remdesivir, RT PCR machine... Since my voice ignored, I have recorded my dissent by letter. Unprecedented. Slow death of the only body of cooperative federalism."

In the letter to FM Nirmala Sitharaman, Mitra said the decision to continue to levy GST on Covid-related items is "anti-people" and "draconian" which will hurt millions of people.

"I tried my best to repeatedly raise my objection after your announcing this decision, but unfortunately, I was never given the floor and my voice was muzzled, as the Secretary brought the meeting to a close and the virtual link was cut off. Whither GST Council!" Mitra wrote.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur refuted Mitra's allegations that his opinion was ignored and blamed technical glitches for the West Bengal minister's speech being cut short.

"During the GST Council discussions today (June 12), it seemed as if the Finance Minister from West Bengal did not have a stable VC connection. Revenue Secy repeatedly informed him his line was breaking, that he was not properly audible & to turn off his video for better connectivity," Thakur tweeted.