LHC extends stay on tax for another month

Govt unable to produce notification withdrawing tax.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Thursday extended for one month a stay order on additional tax on incoming calls to Pakistan.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan adjourned the hearing till January 14 when he was informed that the federal government needed more time to submit a notification withdrawing the additional tax.

At the last hearing, a counsel for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told the court that the tax had been withdrawn so the petition should be dismissed. The judge then asked for a copy of the notification withdrawing the tax for the next hearing.

The petitioner, Lahore-based local loop operator (LLO) Brain Telecommunication Limited, has challenged the tax as anti-competitive.

Counsel for the petitioner Barrister Umar said that the Ministry of Information Technology had issued a policy directive asking the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to execute an agreement with 14 long distance and international (LDI) operators to set up an international clearing house (ICH). The PTA acted upon the ‘instructions’ and established an ICH for LDI operators with effect from October 1. The counsel said that the tax had raised the cost of calling Pakistan 3 to 4 times, hurting many overseas Pakistanis.

He pointed out that the Competition Commission had issued a dissenting note to the MoIT and PTA suggesting that it withdraw its decision to establish an ICH exchange. He said the decision also violated the Competition Act of 2010.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.