ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday stayed the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR’s) decision to block the mobile phone SIMs of non-tax filers.

A single bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition of a private telecom operator through its counsel Barrister Salman Akram Raja and issued the stay orders in this matter.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that the constitutional amendment done in this regard was in violation of the basic rights of freedom of business granted in Article 18.

Telcos assure Aurangzeb: 5,000 SIM cards of non-filers will be blocked daily

He argued that there can be no legislation contrary to the fundamental rights given in the Constitution and the government cannot get the power to block people’s mobile phone SIMs by amending the law.

Raja contended that if more than 500,000 SIMs were blocked, there would be a loss of Rs1 billion annually. He also argued that the government cannot obtain the power to block individuals’ mobile phone SIMs through an amendment to the law.

The FBR initiated the process of blocking 506,671 mobile phone SIMs belonging to non-filers of tax returns on May 11. The telecom operators commenced the process of sending warning messages to the first batch of non-filers, totalling 5,000 individuals in the first phase. The list of these 5,000 individuals was sent to the telecom operators by the FBR. These warnings served as a precursor to the imminent blocking of mobile SIMs for all those who fail to file their tax returns.

The FBR, in collaboration with telecom operators, has devised a phased approach to manage the process effectively. The telecom operators have agreed to manually block SIMs in small groups.

After issuing the stay order, the IHC adjourned the hearing of the case till May 27 directing the respondents to submit a response in this regard.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024