KARACHI, April 28: Participants of a seminar on ‘Alternate Dispute Resolution’ organised by the Income Tax Bar Association Karachi (ITBAK) were highly critical of the system and were of the opinion that it has almost lost its objective as many changes have been made by the Central Board of Revenue.
There was a general consensus amongst the participants that due to the regressive steps taken by the CBR the ADR has lost its purpose and people are no more benefiting form this modern concept of justice, which is successfully operating in many countries.
The seminar was organised on Saturday to mark the completion of 50 years of founding of the biggest tax bar (ITBAK) of the country. The speaker of the seminar was Anwar Mansoor Khan, Advocate General Sindh and guest of honour were Justice (rtd) Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed.
Although the participants patiently listened to the lengthy paper read out by Mr Anwar Mansoor, the question and answer session became highly informative when a number of questions coming from the floor were highly critical about the present shape and performance of the ADR.
A representative of a multi-national company complained on the occasion that on filing a complaint with the ADR one gets a single line reply from the CBR stating ‘your case’ has been rejected. In the past the decision of the ADR was binding on the parties and the CBR but now the latter gets away with it.
Another participant said that for getting relief from ADR in the past one could take his case at any stage but now it could only be taken at the appeal stage, which made the aggrieved party to suffer at the hands of bureaucracy. Above all the recommendations of the ADR are no more taken as a binding upon the CBR and the decision or the case has to be reverted back to the court for final order.
“How could you expect the ADR to work if the aggrieved parties have to go back to the court to get justice,” a participant asked in a frustrated mood and with a lot of anger. Some of the participants said that their cases were pending with the CBR for the last six months.
It was also pointed out that though the law for the ADR has been framed but it has not been given the shape of an institution with the result that people, particularly of rural areas, are even today suffering immensely and have to approach the courts.
“These poor people sell their valuables and prime assets to get justice, which means that the ADR system in the country has failed and time has come that the rural poor should also have cheap and quick justice in the shape of ADR,” he added.
Mumtaz Sheikh, Member Legal, CBR speaking on the occasion said that 1,206 cases were received by the CBR and only 190 cases were rejected by the ADR. He further said that only 25 per cent of cases (around 300) were decided.To celebrate the golden jubilee the ITBAK also organised a dinner where Mr Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed of the Sindh High Court was the chief guest. Naved A Andarabi, president and Haider Ali Patel vice president of the ITBAK also spoke on the occasion.
