ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday set aside a 200 percent increase in property tax by the Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) in the federal capital.
A single bench of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced his reserved verdict in the petitions challenging the hefty increase in property tax by the MCI, and directed the MCI to levy property tax as per pervious rates.
The IHC bench also restrained the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from charging the tax and ruled that the authority to collect property tax is vested with the MCI instead of the CDA.
The bench further ordered an audit into property tax collected by the CDA after 2015 and directed it to deposit the amount it had collected under the head of property tax into the local government fund.
Naib Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Mian Muhammad Aslam had moved the high court through advocate Zulfiqar Ali Abbasi and cited the federal government, the CDA, and the Revenue Directorate CDA as respondents.
He adopted in his petition that the MCI had made a 200 per cent increase in the property tax in Islamabad, while misusing its powers and prayed before the court to set aside the decision of the MCI regarding increase in the property tax.
He stated that the respondents issued demand notice for the payment of property tax in regard to a house of the petitioner wherein, the respondents demanded an exaggerated/excessive property tax of Rs279,644 which is about 200 times more than the property tax levied by the respondents in the last year.
The petitioner maintained that the said demand notice has been issued by the respondents illegally, unlawfully, without any justification and demanded an exaggerated and excessive amount on account of property tax from him.
According to the petition, “The respondents have burdened the petitioner while imposing such about 200 times excessive property tax upon the petitioner and that too is without any justification and prior intimation, hence not only the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed by the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973.”
He stated; “The acts and conducts of the respondents by issuing the impugned demand notice are violative of the Article 9, 4, 10-A, 22, 23 and 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
Therefore, he prayed before the court that the said demand notice may be set aside being illegal, unlawful, unjustifiable and excessive than the actual payable/livable property tax and the same is arbitrary, discriminatory to the extent of the petitioner as well as people of Islamabad.
He also requested the court to issue directions to the respondents to correct the petitioner’s property tax demand notice, and issue afresh correct demand notice of his property.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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