Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought a response from the Chairman Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) regarding the imposition of General Sales Tax (GST) via electricity bills on traders.
The orders were passed by Justice Shujaat Ali Khan while hearing the plea of Nasir Salman against collecting GST via electricity bills, reported ARY News.
The plaintiff in his complaint had said that the tax imposition via electricity bills on small traders and retailers was illegal. He pointed out that the government had imposed a tax on traders who had only consumed as little as one unit per month.
He demanded the government remove the taxes from the electricity bills.
Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, after hearing the plaintiff, adjourned the hearing until 22 August and demanded a response from Chairman WAPDA.
Previously, a similar plea had been filed by a Karachi School in the Sindh High Court (SHC) against the collection of GST on electricity bills. He had said that the K-Electric had imposed Rs. 6,000 GST each on the four commercial meters of the school. He had demanded that schools were not retailers and should be excluded from the tax.
It is to be noted that traders throughout the country have rejected the taxes and given a week to the government to resolve their issues. If the government fails to meet their demands, the traders plan to call a shutter-down strike across the country on 17 August.
