ISLAMABAD: The Lahore Tax Bar Association’s Public Interest Litigation Committee (LTBA-PILC) has formally demanded immediate suspension and removal from service of a serving Commissioner Inland Revenue, Islamabad, following damning findings by the Islamabad High Court in the landmark case exposing the inefficiency and incompetence of CIR.
In a detailed representation addressed to Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division, LTBA-PILC accused the CIR of gross misconduct, mala fide exercise of statutory powers, concealment of material facts, deliberate misapplication of law, and institutional manipulation, resulting in serious prejudice to public revenue and erosion of the rule of law.
The LTBA-PILC relies squarely on explicit and adverse judicial findings recorded by the IHC, which held that the CIR exercised statutory powers arbitrarily and mechanically, deliberately ignored mandatory provisions of law, suppressed and misstated material facts, violated Section 24-A by acting without application of mind, and engaged in conduct amounting to executive overreach, abuse of discretion, and dereliction of fiduciary duty.
The high court went a step further by directing transmission of its judgment to the Chairman of the FBR for necessary action, thereby creating a binding obligation on the tax administration to initiate disciplinary proceedings.
The LTBA-PILC has invoked Section 2(3)(vii) of the FTO Ordinance, 2000, along with the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973, demanding immediate major penalty proceedings, suspension of the officer pending inquiry, an independent fact-finding inquiry, fixation of responsibility for loss and exposure of public revenue, and maximum penalty, including removal from service
The LTBA-PILC warns that allowing the officer to continue would legitimize impunity, undermine public confidence, and send a dangerous signal that judicial findings against senior tax officials carry no institutional consequences. Terming judicial invalidation alone as insufficient, LTBA-PILC stressed that departmental accountability is mandatory where mala fide and unlawful conduct is judicially established, failing which the rule of law becomes illusory.
The instant case has become a litmus test for FBR’s credibility, warning that failure to act may trigger further constitutional litigation and criminal accountability proceedings.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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