KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the tax department that request of the petitioner, seeking condonation of delay in filing refund claim for relevant period, shall be considered sympathetically in accordance with the law keeping in view the spirit of Section-74 of the Sales Tax Act-1990 within the period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order on a constitutional petition filed by M/s Hamdam Paper Products Private Limited.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, was hearing the petition.
The court also directed the tax department to consider application keeping in view the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case of M/s Pfizer Laboratories Limited versus Federation of Pakistan (PTCL 1998 CL 354) preferably within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order which shall be communicated by the counsel for the respondent within a week. The court also disposed of the petition.
Earlier, counsel for the petitioner stated that petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacturing of paper products and registered as a manufacturer and supplier of zero rated goods vide SRO 863 (1)/ 2007 dated 24/08/2007. He said the petitioner, being the supplier of the zero rated goods, is entitled to get the refund of excess input tax exceeds the output tax on account of zero rated local suppliers or export under Section-10 of the Sales Tax Act-1990.
Petitioner said that he claimed the refund pertaining to the tax period February 2001 amounting to Rs21million in the relevant monthly sales tax return. It was required to file the refund claim within the period provided time period but failed to submit the required refund file along with the documents within the stipulated time period, however the petitioner applied for condonation of time limit to the respondent requesting to condon the delay however they are considering its request.
