The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi started hearing of cases around the middle of October this year. Similarly, the special bench at the Lahore High Court has decided over 265 tax related cases.

The Federal Board of Revenue had earlier provided the details of pending cases to the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court with the request to formulate special tax benches.

The Board also issued special instructions to the field formations to ensure that the departmental cases are properly prepared and represented before the courts when these are fixed for hearing. Formation of these Special Tax Benches is aimed at speeding up the hearing process in pending tax cases and expediting the recovery of potential tax revenue.