Islamabad:
A member of the Constitutional Bank (CB) of the Supreme Court has questioned the Government’s plan to rebuild areas affected by the ZARB-E-AZB operation, initiated in 2014 to eliminate terrorist foci in what is now the Northern Wazirist district.
A CB of five members led by Judge Aminuddin Khan resumed on Tuesday when he heard on Tuesday a series of requests presented against the imposition of a super tax in 2015 for the rehabilitation of the people displaced internally by the military operation.
During the hearing, Judge Jamal Khan Commandkhail asked about the government’s plan for the rehabilitation of areas affected by the operation.
“Was any PC-1? [Project Concept-1] Prepared for the resettlement of the affected areas? Was any estimate for the rehabilitation of the affected regions? He also asked if a services can be imposed through a money bill.
One of the lawyers of the companies that challenged the tax, Makhdoom Ali Khan, argued that the government initially enforced the super imposed as a unique measure through the 2015 money bill.
“However, its implementation continued from 2015 to 2022. The initial estimate of the government was to collect RS80 billion. It is not clear how many income was really generated under Super Levy’s tax,” he added.
He affirmed that the Government had already collected the Income Tax on Profit, and to avoid double taxes, it was appointed a “super tax.” He argued that social welfare is now a provincial subject and that this was not a super taxes, but simply another tax.
Judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked if Super Levy’s tax won for a single year. The company’s lawyer replied that it was initially implemented for a year.
Judge Commandkhail asked if there was any record of the total amount collected under the super tax. Judge Mazhar commented that the super tax was imposed once for a specific purpose and questioned whether he would continue indefinitely.
Makhdoom Ali Khan argued that the rehabilitation of areas affected by the military operation was a local and provincial issue. The case hearing will resume today at 9:30 am
