Time-barred tax pleas dismissed: LTBA-PILC urges Aurangzeb to probe FBR ‘inefficiency’

ISLAMABAD: Lahore Tax Bar Association Public Interest Litigation Committee (LTBA-PILC) has urged the Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to probe into inefficiency and institutional failure within the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), where multiple time-barred tax appeals filed by FBR were outrightly dismissed, resulting in irrecoverable loss of lawful tax revenue to the public exchequer.

In this regard, the LTBA-PILC has written a letter to the Finance Minister.

LTBA-PILC has called upon the FM, to take immediate action against the misuse of public funds and abuse of authority by tax employees.

Misuse of public funds: LTBA-PILC urges FBR to conduct probe

According to the representation submitted to the FM and FBR, these judicial orders expose not a mere procedural lapse but a pattern of reckless disregard for statutory duties, raising serious questions about intentional facilitation of revenue loss and protection of selected beneficiaries.

The High Court’s findings revealed that FBR officers filed appeals beyond the statutory limitation period, despite settled law and binding precedents.

Such conduct amounts to criminal negligence, maladministration and possible abuse of authority, directly prejudicing public interest and taxpayer money. LTBA-PILC highlighted that FBR appeared least interested in recovery of lawful taxes, while showing a willingness to waste billions of rupees through legally incompetent and time-barred litigation.

It is not clear that who authorized these time-barred appeals, subsequently vetted them, and why no internal accountability mechanism was followed.

LTBA-PILC has demanded that FBR, disclose with documentary evidence, identification of officers responsible for filing time-barred appeals causing loss to the exchequer, details of disciplinary, departmental or legal action taken against them.

Tax lawyer Waheed Shahzad Butt added that the present situation is simply “institutional collapse of revenue protection”, stressing that deliberate filing of time-barred cases is not only incompetence but also calculated act to recover revenue at the expense of honest taxpayers.

This public interest action has been initiated solely to uphold rule of law, ensure institutional accountability, and protect the national exchequer, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025