ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed an appeal of FBR regarding the sales-tax evasion worth Rs 41 million by a commercial company and observed that Federal board of Revenue (FBR) shouldn’t bring every case before it.
A three member bench of the top court headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that bringing every case here causes wastage of resources and time of the apex court.
Expressing displeasure over answers of FBR during hearing and not attaching the relevant document, Justice Isa remarked that the FBR should recruit teachers to understand English language or it should ask Parliament to pass a law for recording the proceeding in Urdu.
During hearing, the FBR’s lawyer continued reading the paper-book at this Justice Isa asked him whether this was the way to give arguments. The court asked the lawyer to firstly tell what was his case and then read the relevant portion of the book.
The lawyer said that the respondent had not paid the amount of sales tax by committing a fraud.
The court asked the counsel to point out where the law was violated.
Justice Yahya Afridi asked the lawyer to present the show-cause notice where the dishonesty of the respondents was recorded. The lawyer prayed the court to grant some time to present the relevant record.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the lawyer had to request for adjournment at the start of the proceeding, adding that the court wouldn’t accept the request after listening the complete case.
Justice Afridi noted that a criminal case was also registered against the respondent and inquired what was its conclusion. The court said if the lawyer had not answer then it could ask questions from FBR officials here. The court also expressed dissatisfaction over the answer of FBR officials.
After listening arguments from the FBR, the court dismissed the FBR’s appeal. It may be mentioned here that sales tax commissioner had ordered to recover tax amount worth Rs 41 million from a company Horizon Business Network. However, appellant tribunal remanded the case while high court maintained the decision. The FBR had filed the case against the decision of high court.
