Following a heated debate, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday finally passed a resolution for implementing the Goods and Services Tax.

J&K was the only state not to have implemented the tax reform before its July 1 rollout.

A special session on GST was adjourned indefinitely in mid-June after it led to chaos in the House, which meant that Kashmir missed the July 1 deadline.

Opposition parties, the business community and the civil society have been opposing the implementation of GST in its present form, claiming it would undermine the state's special status as guaranteed under Article 370 of the Constitution and its fiscal autonomy.

Most shops and business establishments were shut across Kashmir on Wednesday due to a strike over the proposed rollout of GST.

There was chaos in the Assembly on Wednesday as well including a heated exchange between PDP minister Imran Ansari and National Conference leader Devendra Singh Rana – during which the former threatened to "lynch" the latter in the Legislative Assembly. MLA Rasheed Engineer then scuffled with marshalls who were trying to control the ruckus in the house, news channels reported.

In Kashmir, the state government has to pass an order on GST, which has to be countersigned by the President.

On Monday, Opposition National Conference had warned Mehbooba Mufti-led government of “severe consequences” if it implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in its present form, saying the party would not allow state to accept the new tax regime till adequate safeguards were put in place.

The Mehbooba Mufti-led government had assured that GST would not hurt businesses. “We have made changes in federal relations with the government of India. While other states draw powers to tax from the Constitution of India, we get ours from our own Constitution. As those legislative powers have not been compromised, there is no question of compromising fiscal autonomy,” finance minister Haseeb Drabu said at a meeting in Srinagar recently.