SHC serves show-cause notice to convicted judge

Court dismisses 300 pleas challenging Super Tax on high-income individuals

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Wednesday a show-cause notice to convicted sessions court judge Sikandar Lashari, who has been sentenced to death in a murder case.

The notice was sent to Hyderabad Central Jail, where Lashari is imprisoned. It asked why he should not be terminated from his services, given the fact that he had been awarded a death sentence.

The court sought a reply from the convicted judge within 15 days.

An anti-terrorism court had sentenced Lashari to death on August 29, 2018, for murdering the son of another judge, Khalid Shahani, in 2014. It also awarded him 14 years of imprisonment for the possession of an illegal weapon.

300 pleas dismissed

Meanwhile, a two-member bench, comprising Justice Khadim Hussain M Sheikh and Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry, dismissed 300 pleas challenging the Super Tax imposed on high-income individuals.

The verdict, reserved by a divisional bench, stated that the Super Tax had been imposed in accordance with the laws and the Constitution.

It added that the tax net needed to be expanded in order to strengthen the economy because the inefficient tax collection system burdened the few people who paid their taxes.

It further stated that taxes were unfortunately only considered an expense rather than a tool to strengthen the country. The court dismissed the 300 pleas challenging the Super Tax.

The government had previously imposed four per cent of tax on those with an annual income of over Rs500 million, and three per cent of tax on the banking sector.

Acquitted

Another bench, comprising Justice Abdul Malik Gaddi and Justice Mrs Kausar Sultana, acquitted two men convicted in a robbery case after the prosecution was unable to present the case property in court.

The bench was hearing the convicts' appeal against their sentences, amounting to six years of imprisonment each.

According to the prosecutor, the case property was destroyed in a fire that had erupted in the city court storeroom.

"The accused can only be sentenced if the prosecution is strong," pointed out Justice Gaddi.

The petitioners' counsel, meanwhile, claimed that his clients were innocent and the police had falsely booked them out of personal enmity.

He moved the court to nullify the sentences awarded to Mazhar Abbas and Rizwan.

The court nullified the sentences and acquitted the men.

According to the police, Abbas and Rizwan were caught red-handed while robbing a house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in 2017.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2020.