Special benches of SC, LHC hearing tax-related cases

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Wednesday said special tax benches were constituted in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Lahore High Court (LHC) for hearing of tax-related cases.

According to the statement issued by the FBR, the Board had earlier provided details of pending cases to the Supreme Court and the LHC with the request to formulate special tax benches. The Board also issued special instructions to the field formations to ensure that the departmental cases are properly prepared and represented before the courts when these are fixed for hearing.

The special bench at the Supreme Court comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi started hearing of cases around the middle of October, 2018 while special bench at the LHC comprising Justice Shahid Jamil Khan and Justice Asim Hafeez have been hearing tax-related cases since 23-10-2018. So far, the special bench at the Supreme Court has decided over 122 cases whereas the special bench at the LHC has decided over 265 tax-related cases.

Formation of these special tax benches is expected to speed up the hearing process and decisions in pending tax and expedite recovery of potential tax revenue.