Dr. Vijay Kelkar will head the 13th Finance Commission

Nov 15: Thirteenth finance commission has been set up on Wednesday and is expected to submit its report by October 2009, said the official release.

The constitutional body will be headed by the former finance secretary Dr Vijay Kelkar. Other members are Indira Rajaraman, Emeritus professor of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Abusaleh Shareef, chief economist of National Council of Applied Economic research and Atul Sarma, former vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University.

Commission’s recommendations will cover the period of five fiscal years starting from April1, 2010 to March 31, 2015.

Issues to be taken by the commission

Among various fiscal issues main focus of the commission is likely to be the effect of goods and services tax (GST) in general and in particular on foreign trade.

The second issue the commission is supposed to take is the assessment of the financial position of union and states and make recommendations to make fiscal environment stable.

Present measures for financing disaster management with reference to the National Calamity Contingency Fund and the Calamity Relief Fund and the funds envisaged in the Disaster Management Act 2005 will also be under examination.

Climatic change and environment concerns in relation to development will also make a part of list on which commission is supposed to suggest measures.

Commission is also supposed to dwell upon the quality of public expenditures. This is to be mentioned that public spending contributes a lot to the high fiscal deficit.

Sumit Bose has been appointed the secretary of the commission while B K Chaturvedi will be a part-time member.