Union minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday resumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs minister after a gap of about three months.
Jaitley was recuperating from a kidney transplant surgery that took place on May 14 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Prior to operation, Jaitley had stopped attending office in April. He was suffering from a kidney ailment.
"The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed to assign the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs to Arun Jaitley," an official notification issued on Thursday said.
He takes over at a time when the government is in the last phase of decision-making before it gets into election mode in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Jaitley's first-floor office at North Block has been renovated and sanitised so that he can be protected against infection. He is likely to limit public interaction until his health improves further.
In Jaitley's absence, minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal held the additional charge of the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs.
During his three-month stint, the government decided to withdraw controversial Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill from Lok Sabha in view of public fear over the safety of bank deposits.
Goyal also announced project Sashakt to deal with the problem of stressed assets faced by the public sector banks.
Last month, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council chaired by him slashed rates of about 100 items, including sanitary napkins. The move was described as populist by many experts.
The finance ministry also decided to withdraw around 27,000 court cases related to direct and indirect tax by increasing the threshold for filing an appeal in tax cases at various levels from tax tribunals to Supreme Court in a move to provide relief to small taxpayers.
A 10-member panel under the chairmanship of the secretary Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) was formed to examine 'decriminalisation' of certain offences under the Companies Act, 2013.
TAKING OVER
- Jaitley was recuperating from a kidney transplant surgery that took place on May 14 at AIIMS in New Delhi
- Jaitley's first-floor office at North Block has been renovated and sanitised so that he can be protected against infection
- He is likely to limit public interaction until his health improves further.
