Tax collection hamstrung by stay orders: govt

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Tuesday approved a 15 percent increase in the salaries of the civil armed forces and 15 percent disparity allowance for federal employees from grade one to 19.

Addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting here, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) could not recover Rs3,000 billion due to ongoing cases in courts.

“FBR is unable to recover money due to stay orders,” Fawad said, while adding that the government respects all institutions and works in collaboration.

The federal minister further said there was no doubt that the price of petroleum products would increase once again, while adding that the decision regarding the price of petrol does not depend on the cabinet as it depends on other factors.

Speaking about the provincial vaccine dilemma, Fawad said that the Sindh chief minister had asked the federal government to import vaccines for them.

He said the Sindh government did not even spend a single dollar on vaccines and all the vaccines were provided by the federal government, adding that despite that, the number of people vaccinated in Karachi is comparatively very less.

He added that $725 million have been received from international institutions for the purchase of vaccines, stating that vaccines worth $2.5 billion have already been administered to people.

Fawad said that the administrative issues of courts should be resolved in line with the view of the government.

The cabinet stressed the need to set up a forum for consultation between the federal government and the High Court on important national issues.

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The presence of this forum will help eliminate unnecessary delays in important administrative matters. Major pending cases include tax cases, investment, stay orders on administrative appointments, and other important cases, which have caused irreparable loss to the country.

At present, a considerable amount of FBR Rs3 trillion and regulatory bodies Rs250 billion cases are pending in courts. If the term of stay orders is fixed, it would be beneficial for the country and the nation.

Recalling the incident when Prime Minister Imran Khan was summoned to the Supreme Court in Army Public School (APS) case, he said that the premier arrived in the court within half an hour.

“Pakistan is facing an administrative crisis due to stay orders given by the courts,” the minister said, adding that lawsuits are “cheaper in Pakistan than in the world.”

He suggested that the judiciary should be set up in a manner through which these issues can be resolved.

The cabinet has approved the formulation of a separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis for summary trial, the minister further said.

These laws will be enacted in view of PM Imran Khan’s vision to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, Fawad said, adding that similar judicial system will also be established in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, where the PTI is in power.

Fawad said the cabinet called for enacting stringent laws against filthy language and hate speech on social media.

He said that the cabinet meeting gave its nod to the country’s first-ever digital cloud policy. The policy is designed to provide a one-stop shop for digital data in government agencies in line with international standards. Will be used efficiently and will help increase investment opportunities in the digital sector.

The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, approved the reorganisation of the Board of Directors of the State Life Insurance Corporation. Leading economists will be Hummayun Bashir, Puro Sadwa, Moeen Fudda, and Anwar Mansoor Khan would be included as independent directors.

The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, allowed the international company Peugeot to import its vehicles for testing in order to start a car business in Pakistan.

Cabinet on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce M/s Tricom Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd has allowed one-time exemption in customs duty on import of two large cranes for setting up a 50MW wind turbine project in Jampur, Thatta district.

The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, allowed the export of 34,500 metric tons of pulses to Afghanistan under the World Food Program on humanitarian grounds. The cabinet approves $821.80 million deferred repayment agreement with Saudi Arabia. The Cabinet was informed that by 2027, a total of about US$ 4 billion will be deferred, which could be used for national development.

The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance, approved extension in the period of international bonds issued for the economic stabilization of the country. The Cabinet directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Law to consult on the provision of administrative and institutional protection to these bonds.

The Cabinet approved the appointment of Dr Naveed Hamid as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee for another three years.

The cabinet approved appointment of Syed Javed Hassan as chairman Board of Management (NAVTTC) for another three years on the basis of good performance.

The cabinet approved in-principle draft of Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 on recommendation of Ministry of Information Technology. This law will protect citizens from accessing, using, correcting and preventing misuse of personal information. International rules and principles of data protection will be part of this bill. The draft will be sent to the Law Committee.

The Ministry of interior presented a report on the agreement between Pakistan and the United Kingdom on repatriation of citizens. The committee has made recommendations which will be forwarded to the UK government after final consultation with the Foreign Office.

The cabinet approved appointments to Law and Justice Commission on recommendation of Law Ministry. The meeting granted approval to appoint Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal (retd), Justice Faisal Arab (retd), Justice Muhammad Sir Ali (retd), and Senior Advocate Syed Ayaz Zahoor in the commission.

The cabinet allowed allotment of land in Pakistan Secretariat Artillery Ground, Karachi Saddar for construction of new building of Federal Services Tribunal Camp Office, Karachi.

The meeting also approved reduction of Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of Remdesivir 100 mg from Rs3,967.34 to Rs2,308.63 on recommendation of the Ministry of Health. The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health, approved to take necessary steps for the development and promotion of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) industry in Pakistan. These initiatives will help make the pharmaceutical sector compliant with international standards, research, price reduction and availability.

The cabinet approved transfer of 33.5 percent of China Zenhua Oil’s Working Interest and Operatorship in Baska Block to Pakistan Petroleum Ltd.

The cabinet approved appointment of Brigadier (retd) Tawfiq Ahmed as director general National Institute of Electronics (NIE) in MP-1 scale. National Economic Council (NEC) Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2020-21 was presented to the cabinet. The meeting also approved CCIR decisions of January 26, 2022, the ECC decisions of February 9, 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022