LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) while deciding several identical petitions, directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to register vehicles under amnesty scheme introduced through an SRO by the previous PPP government.
The petitioners submitted that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench had already issued directions for the registration of such vehicles. However, the authorities concerned were denying registration of their vehicles. On the other hand, the counsel for FBR submitted that there was no harm in registration of vehicles having proper documentation.
He, however, said that the registration of vehicles having no documentation was impossible. It is to be recalled that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government had approved the amnesty scheme allowing owners to legalise smuggled cars after payment of concessional duty and taxes. Later, the FBR issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) introducing the amnesty scheme.
However, a single bench of the LHC had declared it illegal but later, a division bench on November 11, 2013 had set aside the bench’s order and allowed registration of the cars under the scheme.
