Plea challenging tax recovery on sacrificial animals thrown out

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed a petition challenging the recovery of tax on sacrificial animals arriving into cattle markets by the district west municipal corporation. The cattle traders’ association claimed that DMC West had imposed a fee - ranging between Rs30 to Rs100 - on small and large animals to be recovered through a private contractor. The association argued that it was illegal and unjust.

The contractor - M/s Shahbaz Enterprises - argued it was duly authorised under the law to recover the tax for which it had won the contract through a transparent bidding process. It pleaded to the court to dismiss the association’s plea. Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, dismissed the plea, observing that the petitioner had challenged the recovery of the tax instead of its imposition.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2013.