Pending in Punjab: Backlog of 150,000 tax-related cases in courts

LHC judge calls for speedy disposal of pending cases

A Lahore high court judge has said that around 150,000 taxation related cases were pending in courts across Punjab.

“Around 8,000 cases related to taxation are under adjudication in the Lahore High Court (LHC) alone,” LHC Justice Ayesha Malik said while speaking at a seminar titled “Role of the high court, FBR and guidance for professionals”, organised by the Pakistan Tax Bar Association in Murree, according to a handout issued here on Saturday.

Lawyers, judges, tax law professionals, office-bearers of the Pakistan and Lahore Tax Bar Association and stakeholders attended the seminar.

While representing LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Shah, Justice Malik laid special emphasis on disposal of all pending cases.

She also gave her consent to a case management plan for reexamining these cases so that they could be disposed of on a priority basis with the objective of extending  speedy justice to all the complainants.

The judge said that there were 150,000 cases pending in different courts and that 8,000 cases related to taxation were under trial in the LHC alone.

She said that special benches were being established at various levels in order to dispose of these cases on a priority basis.

Justice Ayesha Malik also said that if the FBR could help present tax cases with all relevant data and documents which would help dispose of such cases without any delay.

She said that taxation was a very vital subject with a direct link to the economy and that it was necessary that the pending and under trial cases related to taxation should be processed as quickly as possible.

Pakistan Tax Bar Association President Mohsan Nadeem and Lahore Tax Bar Association President Ferhan Shahzad underlined the need to re-examine taxation laws and related issues. They also called for creating awareness of taxation laws for tax professionals.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2016.