PESHAWAR, June 1: The Peshawar High Court on Friday restrained the Swat district administration from collecting bus-stand tax from an international transport company. A bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan and Justice Jehanzeb Raheem admitted to full hearing a writ petition filed by the Daewoo Company and put on notice the respondents, including the Swat district administration.

The administration had ordered the company to pay tax at the rate of Rs300 per bus by June 1, threatening to close the bus stand of the company in the Swat district otherwise.

The company has been providing bus service from Peshawar and Rawalpindi to Swat.

Advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwer appeared for the petitioner and argued that the levy of the tax was illegal and unconstitutional. He argued that the bus stand was a private property of the company and it had not been established by the administration.