QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has suspended the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) notification about shifting of key tax-paying industrialists and business institutions from Quetta to Karachi.

A division bench of the BHC comprising Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Abdul Hameed Baloch issued the order of suspension of the FBR notification on a petition filed by some industrialists of Quetta.

The bench after hearing the petition suspended the notification till the next hearing of the petition.

Through a notification on Aug 5, the FBR had transferred tax payments of 38 key industrialists and business institutions from Quetta to Karachi.

Earlier, they were depositing their taxes in the FBR office in Quetta.

Hajvairy Steel Industries challenged the notification in the BHC through its counsel Mohammad Amir Rana.

Counsel Rana pleaded before the court that the collection of tax from major taxpayers had been transferred to Karachi without taking the provincial government into confidence.

By doing so, he said, the jurisdiction of the court had also been violated. Now an aggrieved person can only approach the Sindh High Court.

The court ordered that notices be issued to the attorney general and advocate general for Balochistan in this respect.

Office-bearers of the Balochistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) had also called on the chief commissioner of income tax, Quetta region, to review the decision a few days ago. It is difficult for the business community of Balochistan to deposit their taxes in Karachi, they argued.

The counsel pointed out that businessmen from Karachi and other parts of the country had established their industries in Hub, Balochistan’s industrial city. However, they have been depositing taxes in Karachi.

Mr Rana said that these industrialists and factory owners should open their offices in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2020