Islamabad:
A member of the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench (CB) has questioned the government’s plan to reconstruct areas affected by Operation Zarb-E-AZB, which was initiated in 2014 to eliminate terrorist hotbeds in what is now North Waziristan district.
A five-member CB led by Justice Aminuddin Khan on Tuesday resumed the hearing of a number of petitions filed against the introduction of a super tax in 2015 for the rehabilitation of the people internally displaced by the military operation.
During the hearing, justice asked Jamal Khan Mandokhail about the government’s plan for rehabilitation of areas affected by the operation.
“Was someone PC-1 [Project Concept-1] Prepared for resettlement of the affected areas? Was an estimate of rehabilitation of the regions affected? ‘He also asked if a tax can be introduced on services through a money -bill.
One of the lawyers of the companies that challenged the tax, Makhdoom Ali Khan, claimed that the government originally enforced the super tax as a one-off measure through the 2015 money bill.
“However, its implementation continued from 2015 to 2022. The government’s original estimate was to collect RS80 billion. It is unclear how much revenue was actually generated under the Super Levy tax,” he added.
He said the government had already collected the income tax on earnings, and to avoid double taxation, it was appointed a “super tax.” He argued that social welfare is now a provincial topic and that this was not a super tax, but merely another treasure.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked if the Super Tax Tax was charged for a single year. Companies’ lawyer replied that it was originally implemented for a year.
Justice Mandokhail asked if there was any registration of the total amount collected under the super tax. Justice Mazhar noted that the super tax was once introduced for a specific purpose and questioned whether it would continue indefinitely.
Makhdoom Ali Khan claimed that rehabilitation of areas affected by the military operation was a local and provincial issue. The hearing hearing is resumed today at. 9:30 pm.
