Gujarat Constitutes Fourth State Finance Commission After Nine-Year Gap

The Gujarat government has constituted the fourth State Finance Commission (SFC) and handed over its command to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yamal Vyas. The state government information this in a notification issued on Monday. Gujarat's fourth SFC has been constituted after a gap of about 9 years. The term of the third State Finance Commission constituted under the chairmanship of Bharat Gariwala ended in 2015.

Vyas, who has been made the chairman of the fourth State Finance Commission, is the chief spokesperson of the ruling BJP in Gujarat. He is a chartered accountant and company secretary by profession and has about four decades of experience in this field. He was also a full-time member of the third SFC between 2011-2015. He has also worked as an independent director on the board of directors of various state public sector undertakings. In a notification issued by Gujarat Chief Secretary Raj Kumar, information was given about the formation of the fourth State Finance Commission under the leadership of Yamalbhai Vyas.

The 16th Finance Commission headed by Arvind Panagariya visited Gujarat last month. At that time, the state government had demanded that the states' share in the 'division of taxes' be increased from 41 percent to 50 percent. A delegation of the opposition party Congress had raised the issue of delay in the formation of the State Finance Commission in a meeting with the Central Finance Commission. The Congress had said that Gujarat should have appointed the seventh State Finance Commission by now.