‘Harassment’: Sep 13 fixed for final arguments

CJ on June 11 observed that the office of the tax ombudsman was not a police station where officers were summoned.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday fixed September 13 for hearing final arguments on a petition against the federal tax ombudsman.

Shoaib Suddle has been accused of harassing tax officers by Muhammad Saleem, an additional commissioner (land revenue) from Faisalabad.

Saleem says that Suddle has been asking tax officers to collect undue tax from taxpayers. He says that tax officers would risk losing their jobs if they disobeyed an “illegal order”.

He has requested that the court restrain Suddle from harassing tax officers. He says that an ombudsman could not summon tax officers. Suddle, in his reply, has denied the allegations and requested that the petition be dismissed.

He also said that the court did not have the authority to summon him.

The chief justice, on June 11, had observed that tax officers were judicial officers, adding that the office of the tax ombudsman was not a police station where officers were summoned.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2012.