The government today said a decision has been taken to set up a group of select senior officials both from the Centre and states to consider the 'design' of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The decision was taken in a meeting held on November 8, chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and attended by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

It may be recalled that last month after the meeting with Chairman of the Empowered Committee on GST Sushil Modi, Chidambaram had said that two committees would be constituted to sort out differences for early roll out of the new indirect tax regime.

While one committee will deal with the Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation issue, the other will deliberate on the design of the GST, he had said.

After being finalised by the two sub-committees, the report would be taken up by the Finance Minister.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2011 has already been introduced in Parliament in March 2011 proposing to amend certain provisions of the Constitution for the introduction of a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country.

The Bill proposes to subsume a number of specified consumption taxes on goods and services levied by both the central and state governments.

States want the central government to resolve the CST compensation issue before moving ahead with the rollout of the GST.