PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has barred the Customs Department from collecting provincial cess from the industrial units of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A division bench, comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan, issued the restraining order in a writ petition filed by six companies, including Cherat Packaging Ltd, Asia Food Products (Pvt) Ltd, Utman Ghee Industry (Pvt) Ltd, Lucky Cement Ltd, Cherat Cement Co. Ltd and Associated Industries Ltd.
The bench passed the interim order which stated that “The respondents are directed to follow the recovery procedure, as provided under sections-4 and 6 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Collection of Cess for Development and Maintenance of the Infrastructure Rules 2014.”
During hearing, it was specifically brought in the court notice that neither the impugned rules through which cess was imposed nor the Constitution permitted the federal entity to collect a cess.
The industrial units, through a letter, asked the Customs Department to comply with the court’s order.
