Municipal authority can impose charges on property sale, says SHC

Sindh High Court dismisses petition filed by textile mill against the town municipal authority.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court dismissed a petition filed by a textile mill against the town municipal authority for levying charges on property sale.

Shafiq Textile Mills (Pvt) Limited filed a case against the Gulberg administration accusing them of demanding a fee of Rs50,000 for each plot to issue an No Objection Certificate, said the petitioner’s lawyer Sabihuzzaman Abbasi. The fee was paid but the authorities have yet to issue the certificate, he said.

The administration was approached again but they demanded the same amount again for ‘unknown’ tax, said Abbasi. The lawyer challenged the authority of the town municipal administration to levy charges on issuing an NOC.

MP Owais Ansari, who was representing the Gulberg administration, said that the municipal administration is legally entitled to collect these charges from the sale of immovable properties falling within its administrative jurisdiction. Justice Maqbool Baqir, who was heading the bench, disposed of the petition. “It is wrong to say that the town municipal administration does not possess power to impose charges on sale of property,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2013.