Lahore High Court demands Pakistan Telecommunication Authority tax withdrawal notification
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to submit a copy of the notification of withdrawal of an additional tax on incoming international calls.
Earlier, the counsel for the PTA told the court that the tax challenged by the petitioner had been withdrawn; therefore, the petition should be dismissed.
The petitioner’s counsel alleged that the tax was still being collected on the incoming international calls and the overseas Pakistanis were facing the problems.
At this the court directed the PTA council to submit copy of the notification on next hearing. The court also extended stay against the recovery of the tax till Dec 13.
A private company “Brain Telecommunication” had filed the petition challenging the levy of the additional tax. The company stated that the additional tax on the incoming international calls was a violation of the rules prescribed in section 4 of the Competition Commission Act which prohibits price fixing and division of market through quotas.
It said overseas Pakistanis had been facing immense difficulty and financial loss due to ‘illegal’ additional tax. After the levy of the said tax since Oct 1, 2012, Pakistanis living abroad had been paying four times extra charges on a phone call made to homeland.
The petitioner requested the court to declare the impugned tax unlawful and restrain the PTA from collecting it.
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