Islamabad:
A committee set up by the Supreme Court to resolve tax cases has recommended the establishment of a robust alternative dispute resolution mechanism within the Federal Board of Revenue and all provincial income departments.
The committee, which consists of the Supreme Court’s registrar and experts in legal and tax cases, has also suggested that ADR decisions are made binding on the revenue authorities to prevent unnecessary litigation.
The government has expressed concern about the large number of pending income -related cases in the courts involving billions of rupees. This not only deprives the government of critical revenue, but also adds the backlog of the judiciary.
To mitigate the situation, Chief Justice Yahya Afridi was chairman of a meeting on November 7, 2024. It was revealed that 108,366 such cases were pending in the country’s high courts involving RS4,457 billion.
In addition, about 6,000 revenue cases were in the Supreme Court, while 2,000 cases remained unresolved in different courts and courts where residence orders had stopped potential recovery worth billions of rupees.
The purpose of the November meeting, which also attended officials from the Ministry of Finance and FBR, was to develop a comprehensive strategy to accelerate the solution of income -related cases across judicial forums.
The meeting formed a committee with tax expert Imtiaz Ahmed Khan as his coordinator. It included Supreme Court Registrar Saleem Khan, Asim Zulfiqar, Sher Shah Khan, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, FBR’s Director General, Law and others.
The committee was tasked with reviewing the matter, identifying problems and making recommendations. The committee was also instructed to propose appropriate solutions in the context of the situation in the country.
For Fuflil this mandate, the committee consulted key stakeholders, including FBR, Supreme Court Bar Association, Punjab Tax Bar Association, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other business representatives.
Based on the entrance to stakeholders, the committee recommended to establish a special ADR panel within FBR to reduce litigation through mediation, conciliation and negotiation.
The Committee also suggested that FBR should not have authority to appeal ADR decisions in any court. It also suggested creating an ADR unit in the Supreme Court to monitor the ADR systems in FBR and other state institutions.
In order to reduce the burden of the judiciary, the committee recommended the creation of special benches for revenue cases in the Supreme Court and the high courts with judges asked to decide the cases quickly.
The committee said that a lot of time is spilled in litigation because cases of a similar character are heard in different benches. Therefore, it said, all such cases should be consolidated and presented with a single bench for uniform decisions.
It is pointed out in the recommendations that revenue officials routinely submit appeals against the judicial orders, even if they have a weak legal attitude in the case of fear of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
This unnecessary appeal culture puts unnecessary pressure on the justice system and increases legal expenses for both the state and the taxpayer, the committee said in its recommendations.
In order to end this trend, it continues, FBR and provincial income authorities must be directed not to submit unnecessary appeals and disciplinary acts should be taken against the officers concerned, considering this violation as a lack of performance.
It also suggested to streamline the appointment of officers in the relevant appeal in FBR and introduction of key prestigants to assess these officers.
The committee also made recommendations regarding the issue of residence orders in tax cases. It said judicial forums should dispose of cases within the legally set time.
Chief Justice of Pakistan has been requested to consider increasing the number of judges who remember the complaints of bar associations and taxpayers, improve case management, streamlining of legal procedures.
