KARACHI: THE Sindh High Court (SHC) served notices on Tax Department and deputy attorney general of Pakistan in a constitutional petition filed by M/s Ship Masters seeking interim order for restoration of its sales tax registration which was suspended by the tax authorities.
Hearing the petition, a two-member bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, also directed them to file their respective para-wise comments on next date of hearing. The court adjourned the matter for April 07, 2017.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner stated that it is engaged in the business of services providers (clearing forwarding agents) and fulfilling all the liabilities regularly. However officials of the tax department suspended its sales tax registration without passing any order or issuing any show cause notice for giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard as specified in Section 21 of the Sales Tax Act-1990.
Citing Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office-II as respondents, the counsel submitted that the court may be pleased to call for record and proceedings of the case and after hearing satisfied with its legal propriety to issue the interim order and restore its sales tax registration.