The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday disposed off a case regarding tax recovery of Rs 19 billion from Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL) and Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (PTML), a parent company of U fone. The single bench of IHC comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan while announcing his judgement of the case dismissed 23 identical petitions of telecommunication companies and directed them to deposit the tax with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Earlier, Sardar Jamal Sukhera, counsel for telecommunication companies has contended that under item 49 of Part-I of fourth schedule of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, sales tax can be levied only in respect of goods by the federal government that can be claimed by FBR. Attorney General Molvi Anwar-ul-Haq and Hafiz Munawar Iqbal a counsel for FBR apprised the court that telecommunication companies are wrongly interpreting the constitution as FBR is collecting Federal Excise Duty from these companies.