The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the Excise and Taxation (E&T) director general on Thursday to release the consignment of the petitioner on 50 percent payment of the infrastructure fee.
An SHC bench comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Muhammad Ali M Mazhar, after hearing initial arguments in the petition filed by Shakeel Ahmed against imposition of infrastructure tax through the Sindh Finance (Amendment) Act 2009 on the goods entering and leaving Sindh province, ordered issuance of notices to respondents for January 11.
The bench also ordered the respondents to release the petitioner’s consignment on 50 percent payment of infrastructure fee as well as furnishing of bank guarantee for the balance to the satisfaction of the E&T director general.
The bench observed that a number of petitions on the subject are pending before the court and directed that they should be fix it along with other petitions on the issue.
The petitioner had prayed the court to order respondents including the provincial finance secretary and the E&T director general to stop the recovery of tax by declaring it as unconstitutional.
The tax was imposed by the Sindh government for services rendered in respect of development and maintenance of infrastructure.
