Keeping vigil on consumer interest post GST: CRO

Kolkata, July 7 (IANS) Welcoming the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, the Consumer Rights Organisation (CRO) on Friday urged the government to keep the people informed about the implementing agency for the new tax regime for the benefit of traders and consumers.

"We are welcoming GST and we are supporting it. But we are keeping a strict vigil to safeguard interest of consumers. The government has to think about consumer rights. If the consumer is being cheated, there is no use of GST to the consumer," CRO president Naveen Prakash Sharma told the media here.

"The good news is that there is only one tax and that is the Central tax. What I think is that the government should inform the public about the implementing agency of the new tax. Till the government does that, neither the consumers, nor the trader will be benefited," Sharma added.

He also stressed on the fact that products being sold from the pre-GST stock should display both pre-GST and post-GST maximum retail price.

"The government has given an order to all companies to display old MRP and new MRP. So if the company is not doing the same, it means the consumer is being cheated."

"Suppose, after GST the product has come under a new tax bracket. So the prices will increase or decrease. There has to be an additional sticker along with the old MRP so that the consumer is aware of the new price till the time the new manufacturing goods come to the market. This should be done for the old stocks," he said.

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