HYDERABAD, April 10: Traders will strongly protest against the enforcement of the lapsed income tax ordinance.

This was resolved at an emergency meeting of the Anjuman Tajiran-i-Sindh held here the other day.

The ordinance, the meeting said, had become infructuous and lost its legal value as it had not been passed by the National Assembly within 90 days of its promulgation in accordance with the mandatory provisions of the law.

Speaking on the occasion, various representatives of the traders’ organization said that the Income Tax Ordinance had been promulgated in June 2002 while the National Assembly had come into being five months ago.

They maintained that the ordinance had not been placed before the National Assembly within the requisite time and, therefore, it had automatically lapsed.

They said that this why the letter No. 10(1)- M(TPE&F) 2002, under which the income tax payers had to be given necessary information about the Income Tax Ordinance, was not implemented anywhere in the country.

The meeting adopted a resolution condemning the issuance of show cause and penalty notices as well as the forced sales tax registration.

It demanded of the prime minister to take serious notice of the illegal action of the Central Board of Revenue, which was creating bitterness against the government.

The meeting also urged the prime minister to convene a meeting of the representatives of small traders of the country and ensure the presence of the financial advisor to the federal government, Senator Shaukat Aziz, and senior CBR officials to evolve a strategy to bride the widening gulf between the government and small traders.

It warned that if these proposals were not considered dispassionately, the small traders reserved the right to protest.