KMC caretaker set-up’s power to impose MUCT questioned

The amicus curiae (friend of the court) appointed by the Sindh High Court (SHC) to assist it in the matter of collecting municipal utility charges & taxes (MUCT) of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) from citizens through K-Electric bills questioned the power of the KMC interim set-up to impose MUCT.

Arguing before the court, senior counsel Khalid Javed Khan said the KMC’s interim administration is relying upon the resolution adopted by the district council, which is an elected body, but presently there is no elected body of the KMC.

He said that the date of the local government elections has been announced, so such decisions should be taken by the elected body in accordance with the law. He pointed out that the impugned notification of the KMC relates to the imposition of tax, rates toll or fee on the subjects enumerated in Part II of Schedule IV of the Sindh Local Government Act 2013.

Khan said that the word “income” defined in Rule 2(1)(e) of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (Collection of Municipal Utility Charges and Taxes) Rules 2002 pertains to items mentioned in Part I of Schedule V of the LG Act.

The KMC’s counsel requested time to examine such aspect and seek instructions on this point. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar directed the KMC to file comments in the matter by December 13.

Syed Najeebuddin Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and other petitioners had challenged the collection of fire and conservancy charges, and other utility charges of the KMC through KE bills. They had questioned the viability of collecting utility taxes through KE bills, and requested the court to declare the impugned action of the KMC as unlawful.