Islamabad High Court (IHC) restrained Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from taking coercive measures including forcible recovery from the bank accounts of a leading petroleum company.
According to an order issued by the IHC, further, relying on Pakistan LNG Limited versus Federation of Pakistan (2022 PTD 1763), no coercive measures for recovery shall be adopted, including by any forcible recovery from the accounts of the petitioner company pending further orders.
The Petitioner Company, Attock Petroleum Limited (the “Petitioner Company”) is a public listed company engaged in procurement, storage and marketing of petroleum and related products. is registered with the FBR as a whole seller, distributor and retailer.
The company is also operating as an oil marketing company (OMC) under a license from the concerned authorities including Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. The Petitioner Company is registered for income tax and sales tax purposes with the respondent departments as required under the relevant laws and is a law-abiding taxpayer.
Through the instant application, the company seeks to place before this court a table setting out the amount of Super Tax paid by the Petitioner Company for Tax Year 2023.
In view of the forgoing, the document be allowed to be made a part of the record, so as to allow a fair and complete adjudication of the case. The petroleum company be allowed to file, and maintain, its tax return for Tax Year 2023 by paying Super Tax, the petitioner pleaded.
IHC order stated that the CM seeks compliance with an order of the Supreme Court whereby the question of the interim injunction granted without notice to the respondents was heard by the Supreme Court and the matter was remanded to this Court. Given that the respondents appeared on several dates before this Court wherein all the questions relating to the propriety of an interim injunction were duly addressed on several hearings, there does appear a case to grant the relief.
In the meantime, the respondents are directed to address submissions specifically on this question, IHC order added.