ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has admitted mistake that the names of senators were obtained from the official website of Senate without consulting the Senate Secretariat for Parliamentarians Tax Directory (Tax Year 2019).
This was stated by a senior FBR official while briefing the meeting of Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges which was held on Wednesday at Parliament House.
Chaired by Senator Muhammad Tahir Bizenjo, the meeting was attended by Senator Irfanul Haque Siddiqui, Senator Manzoor Ahmed Khan Kakar, and senior officers of the ministries and departments concerned such as Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the FBR and the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
While discussing the privilege motion moved by Senator Sherry Rehman regarding Parliamentarians Tax Directory for the Tax Year 2019 published by the FBR; the Chairman enquired from the Member (IT) FBR about the issue.
The Chairman drew attention of the Committee towards the fact that Parliamentarian’s Tax Directory for the Tax Year 2019 was published by FBR in the year 2022 with a three years’ delay which is astonishing.
Senator Siddiqui enquired that what were the reasons of including the names of the persons in the PTD of Tax Year 2019 who were not even members of the Parliament in the year 2019?
Member (IT) FBR admitted that the Diary has been published with the delay of two years which should have actually been published in the year 2020 but the delay was caused due to change of the government. As far as the query of inclusion of names of the persons who were not even Parliamentarians in the year 2019 is concerned, he informed the Committee that with the approval of the Federal Cabinet the Directory was published and the names of the Senators were taken from the official website of the Senate. The Chairman Committee informed that the list of Senators on the website of Senate was of 2021.
The FBR should have requested formally to the Senate Secretariat for provision of the names of the Members of the Senate in the year 2019 then this confusion may not have been created.
The Member (IT) FBR admitted the fact that there was a mistake on the part of the FBR regarding fetching of the names from the official website of Senate without consulting the Senate Secretariat.
The Committee urged that the FBR should rectify the Tax Directory and publish its corrigendum. The Chairman Committee however deferred the agenda item for next meeting due to absence of the FBR Chairman and directed that Chairman FBR shall attend the next meeting personally.
Reviewing the privilege motion moved by Senator Attaur Rehman regarding the breach of privilege by CDA on account of non-compliance to the SSC Interior concerning allotment of residence to Khateeb and Imam Masjid of F-6/1, it was observed that the issue stood resolved. Disposing of the matter, the Committee lauded the efforts of CDA in this regard.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022