ISLAMABAD: Legal and tax practitioners have expressed concern following an observation issued by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) in the course of review petition proceedings, in which the FTO remarked upon the language employed in certain averments of the petition before it.
In a latest order approved for reporting, the FTO observed that “certain averments contained in the Review Petition employ language which is inconsistent with the standards of restraint and courtesy expected in pleadings presented before a statutory adjudicatory forum,” while affirming that “findings of this Forum may always be questioned through reasoned submissions founded upon facts and law.”
FTO further noted that “personalised or intemperate expressions directed against the Forum neither advance the cause of a litigant nor assist the administration of justice,” and directed that such language “is deprecated.”
Members of the tax bar have welcomed the Forum’s reaffirmation that its findings remain open to challenge on facts and law, but have simultaneously cautioned against any drift toward treating vigorous, fact-based criticism of institutional conduct as impermissible “intemperance.” Practitioners familiar with FTO proceedings note that the accountability jurisdiction exercised by the FTO, mandated to redress injustices committed by FBR functionaries against taxpayers, depends on litigants and counsel being able to press grievances forcefully, provided such submissions remain reasoned and evidence-based.
The concern articulated is that if legitimate, fact-founded criticism of departmental or forum conduct is characterized as discourteous, the deterrent and corrective function the FTO is designed to serve, checking maladministration by FBR officials, risks being diluted, to the detriment of the very taxpayers the institution exists to protect, tax practitioners added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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