KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered Sindh Excise & Taxation Department to submit a reply in response to an appeal pertaining to the recovery of property tax from Pakistan State Oil (PSO) for utilizing terminals at Karachi Port Trust (KPT) as a tenant.
PSO filed an appeal against the verdict of a single-member bench of SHC which, according to appellant (PSO), had erred in law and failed to apply it as set down in the Sindh Urban Immovable Property Tax, 1958 and Sindh Urban Immovable Property Rules, 1958.
The Sindh Government, provincial Excise & Taxation Department and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) have been made respondents in the appeal.
A division bench of SHC headed by Justice Khadim Hussain Sheikh sought the reply to be furnished by August 19, 2020.
Danish Nayyer, on behalf of PSO, stated that KPT leased out land to PSO and added that under the Urban Property Tax rules, it is the owner who has to pay the property tax, if any. He argued that notices issued by Excise & Taxation Department to PSO are illegal and contended that the lease agreement is a bilateral contract between the lessor (KPT) and the lessee (PSO). "This is a common law principle enumerated from the doctrine of privet of contract, which provides that contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations upon any person, who is not a party to the contract," he argued.
The counsel urged the court to suspend the recovery notice of Excise & Taxation Department and restrain it from taking any coercive action against PSO as well as set aside the judgement of single-member bench.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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