Islamabad: FBR lawyer Raza Rabbani has completed his arguments in the Super Tax case under hearing in the Supreme Court Constitutional Bench. Justice Jamal Mandokhel expressed dissatisfaction with the statement of the Additional Attorney General and remarked that until the NFC formula is changed, how can the federation use additional funds? We don’t know what the plan was, money came in the air and disappeared in the air.
A 5-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the case related to the Super Tax.
During the hearing, FBR lawyer Raza Rabbani appeared in the court and presented references to various court decisions.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel asked Raza Rabbani what the Senate’s opinion was regarding the super tax. Raza Rabbani took the stand that the Senate had no objection to the super tax.
After the arguments of FBR lawyer Raza Rabbani were completed, the court called Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman to the rostrum.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel asked the court to tell the facts about how much money was collected from the super tax and how much was spent? The Additional Attorney General said that 114 billion rupees were collected in the form of super tax, the federation spent 117 billion, more than the federation’s share.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel remarked that the federation can only spend its share and not more than that, why should money be collected from the entire country and spent in a specific area? Until the NFC formula is changed, how can the federation use additional funds? Additional Attorney General, I am not satisfied with your statement, the federal government cannot incur additional expenses without the approval of the parliament, development funds are also spent under some scheme, we do not know what the plan was, money came in the air, it went in the air.
FBR lawyer Asma Hamid took the position that the framers of the constitution have made it clear in the constitution regarding this tax.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel remarked that how is the super tax imposed, is it imposed on ordinary citizens? The lawyer said that it is a general tax that is collected from local authorities.
Later, the court adjourned the further hearing of the case till May 19 and sought the record of sending the cases related to the super tax to the Supreme Court from all the high courts. The court directed that it be told whether the high courts informed all the parties about the cases?
