The Federal Board of Revenue has issued a standing operating procedure for the de-listing of the advocates working on its panel to fight tax-related cases at the level of the judicial forums.
Therefore, it has issued instructions to the Chief Commissioners Inland Revenue, LTOs/CRTOs/RTOs, Director General, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation-IR, Islamabad, and all the FBR Panel Advocates.
According to the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) procedure issued on Monday, it had observed that the procedure for the delisting of the FBR Panel Advocates had not been defined in the previous policies. This leaves a vacuum in the smooth monitoring of their performances.
Accordingly, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been defined and will, henceforth, be followed for the de-listing of the FBR Panel Advocates under different situations.
On receipt of a complaint against a panel advocate from the field formation, adverse remarks passed by any court in order, or a complaint from any other quarter or the Board on its own motion, a show-cause notice will be issued by the FBR’s legal wing to the advocate to provide him an opportunity to explain his position, the FBR said.
In a case where an unsatisfactory annual performance review report is received from the field formation, a show cause notice will be issued to the advocate after obtaining a comprehensive report on his performance from the field formation.
The advocate will be given 10 days to submit an explanation in response to the show cause notice issued, as well as the opportunity of being heard in the Board at the Chief or Secretary level, the FBR said.
If the advocate either fails to submit a response to the show cause notice by the due date or is absent from a personal hearing in the Board at the scheduled date and time without plausible reason, he will be given another seven days to either submit an explanation or appear for a personal hearing.
The FBR maintained that the advocate will be de-listed without further notice if his response to the show cause notice is not received until the expiry of the extended time.
It added that after considering the response/explanation submitted by the advocate and while considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, a panel advocate may either be de-listed or issued a warning letter.
In case the advocate does not show sustained improvement in his performance even after the issuance of two warning letters, he will be de-listed immediately without further notice. The power of attorney in the cases that are already assigned to the de-listed advocate will be withdrawn, and the remaining 50 percent of the fee will be withheld, the FBR stated.
The cases will be reassigned to another lawyer by the field formation or the FBR, as the case may be, for a fee that will be decided by the Board or the field formation, which will, in no case, exceed the fees prescribed vide the Board’s letter dated 12 November 2020.
During the pendency of the proceedings under this letter, the membership of an advocate on the panel of the FBR will remain suspended. If found appropriate, the name of the de-listed advocate will be included in the list of blacklisted lawyers and will be placed on the FBR’s website.
The same will be communicated to the Ministry of Law and Justice for circulation to the other ministries and government departments. The field formation will also submit a report about the advocates who have not been assigned any cases from the field formation (dormant lawyers) for the last three consecutive years, while stating the reasons for not having assigned cases.
After obtaining a report on the dormant lawyers from the field formations, the lawyers in question who had not been assigned cases due to either incompetence, overall bad reputations, or misconduct will be de-listed.
If a lawyer opts for voluntary de-listing, he will be required to submit a formal request in this regard and will have to continue representing the department until the finalization of the cases that he has been assigned, the FBR added.
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