Islamabad- The Supreme Court on Friday declared unconstitutional the implementation of revised GST on petroleum products by the government before the passage of the new budget from the parliament. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing a suo moto notice of the increase in petroleum prices. The chief justice said that with increase of GST from 16% to 17%, all the commodities would become expensive. The CJ said no law to increase the tax has been passed as yet. The CJ said that the ultimate sufferers are the people as the prices increase not only affects the owners of private vehicles but also the operators of public transport who in turn pass on the burden to the general public. “The cost of transportation will also lead to escalation in prices of all products....,” he said. The CJ said Ogra (oil and gas regulatory authority) robbed people of billions of rupees in a day. “The officials at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are sucking people’s blood,” he said. This measure is extremely harsh, unprecedented and violates Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution in addition to breaching fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 9, 24 of the Constitution, the court noted. The chief justice inquired from Attorney General Munir A Malik that the parliament has not passed the Finance Bill, how the FBR and the petroleum ministry had issued notifications for increase in prices of food items and petroleum products. The bench asked the attorney general to take instructions from the federal government regarding the matter. Before the bench adjourned the proceeding for half an hour, the AGP remarked: “No one would be allowed to take illegal measures.” When the hearing started, Munir had defended the implementation of the tax increase under the Provisional Collection Taxes Act 1931. The CJ said that the court could order withdrawal of the notification of prices increase and it could also order for returning to the people the money collected through it. The next hearing is set for June 18.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:22:39 +0000
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