The council meet was held on Friday.

Department of Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, a 1982 batch IAS officer, has been assigned additional charge of the post held by Mr Adhia till May 20.

The Competent Authority has approved assignment of additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Revenue to Ajay Narayan Jha, lAS, Secretary, Department of Expenditure during Adhia's absence, a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) notification said on Friday.

Earlier, the GST Council approved making GST Network (GSTN) a government entity, by taking over stakes held by private entities, at the 27th meeting of the council.

GSTN currently is 24.5 per cent owned by the central government and a similar percentage is held by state governments collectively. The remaining 51 per cent is with five private financial institutions -- HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd.

BJP leader Dr Subramaniyam Swami has been demanding since long to make GSTN a 100 per cent government owned entity saying the vested interests has kept the government in dark. With this move of the government, Swamy's tirade against GSTN ownership has been vindicated.

Earlier in a tweet today Dr Swami demanded transfer of Finance Secretary Adhia to another Ministry like Textiles for his role in GSTN scam.

"I demand the Finance Secretary Adhia be transferred to another Ministry like Textiles for his role in GSTN scam," Dr Swami said in a tweet on Friday.

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