After assuming the charge of Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) Chairman against the Supreme Court’s order, a former police officer who has been appointed as head of the prime tax collecting body, has gone on a 15-day leave. Though, the heads of all institutions particularly dealing the financial matters are busy in fixing the accounts by the closure of fiscal year, the newly appointed SRB Chairman, Shaqeeb Qureshi, went on 15 days leave on the very first day of his joining, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today.
A former retired bureaucrat Nazar Mahar was appointed on contract basis as chairman of the SRB and his tenure of service was to expire by July 2012, however, he was removed from his position by the political interference.
The political interference from some quarters surfaced after Owais Tapi, a close relative of President Asif Zardari, wanted to induct his friend, a former superintendent of police and also nominated in the FIR of Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder. Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) Chairman and brother of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was gunned down along with his several party activists in an armed attack in city’s Clifton area in 1996. After receiving a go-head from the centre to collect general sales tax (GST) on services, the provincial government had established Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) for collecting the tax under the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award from July 2011.
Initially, the formation of an administrative set-up of the provincial tax collecting body was suspended for a period of one year while the Sindh government had allowed the centre to collect taxes through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The main office of the Sindh Revenue Board has been set up on 9th Floor of Shaheen Complex near II Chundrigar Road.
Interestingly, after the political interference by a ruling party, a renowned financial expert Dr Kaiser Bengali had also refused to head the selection committee meant to shortlist the aspiring candidates for the slot of SRB chairman.
And his refusal reflected the dictation from some quarters that he did not want to be part of this system, the sources told. Ironically, the committee fulfilled all the formalities and notified Shakeeb Qureshi as the chairman of SRB who went on a 15 days leave on the first day of his joining despite the fact that all the officials of the Board were discharging their duties even on weekly-off days to improve the performance of tax collecting body with its chairman on leave.
