Karachi: Court slaps ban on CDGK infrastructure tax

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Jamal Khurshid
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday restrained the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) from collecting infrastructure tax till further orders.

The order came on a petition of Syed Ashraf Hussain, a representative of the Pasban, a non-government organisation, against the imposition of infrastructure tax by the CDGK.

The petitioner submitted that the imposition of infrastructure tax was unjust and there was no justification or provision in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO)-2002 for levying such a tax.

The petitioner’s counsel, Syed Abdul Waheed, said that if the existing taxes were collected honestly and efficiently, no extra taxes were required. The petitioner’s counsel said that the masses were facing hardships due to the infrastructure tax, because as per the new policy, property could not be sold, rented or transferred until the infrastructure tax was cleared.

He submitted that the CDGK had no right to impose a tax on citizens who were already paying a number of taxes imposed by federal and provincial governments adding that there was no law in statute for charging the infrastructure tax by the local government. He prayed the court to declare the infrastructure tax unlawful and unjust and to order the CDGK to withdraw it immediately.

Assistant Advocate General Adnan Karim submitted that the local government has no power to collect a tax as invested in the provincial government adding that the Supreme Court was also taking up matters pertaining to additional taxes.

The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the CDGK and the Executive Director, Finance Department, had not been served notices and ordered issuance of fresh notices to the respondents. The court, in the meantime, stayed the recovery of infrastructure tax from the citizens.

Petition against target killings: The SHC directed the provincial and federal law officers to file comments on a petition seeking an inquiry into the target killings of over 450 people, the removal of ‘no-go areas’ and the operation for the recovery of illegal weapons in the city.

The Human Rights Commission South Asia’s representative Syed Iqbal Kazmi, referring to the 450 targeted killings of political activists in the city during the last six month, submitted that Article 9 of the Constitution guaranteed protection to citizens, while Article 4 assured that every individual had right to be dealt with in accordance with the law.

He submitted that every political party had the right to continue its activities but in Karachi, the Mohajir Quami Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) was being denied this right. He submitted that certain places had been declared ‘no-go areas’ for MQM-H activists and sympathizers. He submitted that as many as 54 MQM-H activists were killed in June alone this year, but no culprits were arrested.

The petitioner also sought a court order for a search operation for the recovery of illegal weapons in the city.

AAG Adnan Karim submitted that details were being collected from different police stations regarding the investigation of the cases and sought four weeks time. The court granting time directed the AAG to file comments after collecting investigation reports from the police stations concerned. The court also directed the federal law officer to file comments on the petition.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=203528