The government will vest the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) with powers to deal with cases of maladministration by the tax officials of Inland Revenue and Customs departments within the jurisdiction of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK).
Sources told ProPakistani that the office of the FTO has been providing inexpensive justice to people across the country regarding maladministration by various tax and customs functionaries.
The extension of the FTO’s jurisdiction to GB will aid the redressal of grievances in connection with tax-related issues in the region. It will also provide a means of good governance for the people residing or transacting business there and will replace the sense of deprivation that the local population has with a sense of belonging and belief in good governance.
Although a Customs formation as a collectorate already exists in the region, the conversion of Skardu Airport into an International Airport will enhance the role of the Customs authorities in the region.
Based on this, the FTO Secretariat has recommended that the scope of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000, be enforced in GB. The proposal has, therefore, been forwarded to the Ministry of Law of Justice, Islamabad, and is currently being processed.
Similarly, the extension of the FTO’s jurisdiction to AJK will be beneficial in the redressal of the grievances related to the tax issues in the region and will introduce good governance to the people residing or transacting business there. Grievances related to inter-tax adjustments and imports for and exports from the industrial units operating in AJK, in particular, will be addressed under the proposed extension that is also aimed at mitigating the sense of deprivation among the locals and imbuing in them a sense of belonging and belief in good governance.
Accordingly, the FTO Secretariat has taken up the matter of the extension of the scope of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000, with the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit-Baltistan through a requisite legal instrument to Azad Jammu & Kashmir, the FTO’s office added.