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KARACHI, Sept 30: The entire area within the territorial limits of the city district government of Karachi is urban area and immovable property transactions in it are subject to imposition of stamp duty, a Sindh High Court division bench declared on Thursday.
The observation came on a petition moved by a builder and developer against impounding of a sale deed in respect of a plot of land in Gadap Town. The petitioner said the land was situated in a rural area and was not liable to be taxed under the Stamp Duty Act.
The petitioner submitted through Advocate Faisal Kamal Alam that no notification abolishing the five revenue districts of Karachi or for converting their rural areas into urban land has been issued. Yet the sale deed executed by him for purchasing the Gadap land was impounded by the registrar, who said Rs 7.5 million was payable on the transaction by way of stamp duty.
Justices M. Mujibullah Siddiqui and Khilji Arif Hussain, who constituted the bench seized of the petition, admonished the provincial government officials concerned for their inability to produce the relevant notification. It said the recovery of billions of rupees made or being made by the revenue and registration authorities on sale and purchase of immovable property in the hitherto rural areas would become unlawful without a notification.
Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada submitted that all villages and rural areas became municipal territory on the promulgation of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance in 2001.
The revenue districts ceased to exist under the new setup. The new areas were duly classified under the Stamp Duty Act and Gadap and Surjani Town and other newly-converted areas were placed in the lowest category (No VI) for imposition and recovery of stamp duty. Immovable property situated in the new areas also fell within the purview of the property tax law.
Dismissing the petition, the bench declared that the petitioner was liable to pay the duty.
NOTICE TO EXORCIST: Another division bench, comprising Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Azizullah M. Memon, meanwhile, issued a preadmission notice to Tanvir Soofi alias Malik Tanvir in an appeal against his acquittal in a double murder case.
Appellant Irfan Abbas submitted through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed that Tanvir, who claimed to be a spiritual healer and exorcist, persuaded his brother Rizwan Abbas, who had won a gold medal in his MSc (Chemistry) examination, to undergo a ‘spiritual session’ to facilitate conciliation with his estranged wife. The accused arrived in their family apartment in Block 10 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal at about 7pm on June 20, 2000, and asked everyone except his brother and mother, Ms Kaniz Fatima, to leave the place.
On his return to the apartment along with some other members of the family at 10pm, appellant Irfan said, he found Tanvir leaving the place. Inside the apartment his brother (Rizwan) and mother were lying dead in pools of blood with their throats slit. Numerous valuables were found missing.
He lodged a complaint and the accused was tried by a sessions judge, who acquitted him after giving him benefit of the doubt as there was no eye-witness or direct evidence in the case.
The appellant contended that there was sufficient evidence to hold the accused guilty. The knife with which he slaughtered his brother and mother after giving them intoxicating water to drink was recovered. His finger-prints were traced and the victims were with the accused till their death.
The bench directed that the acquitted accused be issued a notice for Oct 10.
DETENTION CASE: The Sindh High Court on Friday issued notice to AG Sindh for Oct 4 on petitions challenging detention of two leaders of the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, adds PPI.
The petition was filed by Ms Kausar Nadeem against detention of her spouse Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem and Ms Naseem Akhtar against detention of her spouse Maulana Aurangzaib Farooqui, who were arrested on July 19.
