| Pak tax defaulters’ Haj quota to be cancelled |
LAHORE The Lahore High Court chief justice late on Friday directed the ministry of religious affairs to cancel Haj quota allotted to tour operators who defaulted on income tax and also seal their offices.
Earlier, Income Tax Department’s counsel Advocate Ilyas Khan told the court more than 130 Haj group organisers (HGOs) had not submitted their ‘income tax return’ for the last three years. He said some HGOs of Peshawar had got them exempted from the tax. Even then the companies were bound to submit income tax returns under Section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, he added.
The counsel informed the court that at least 20 companies had been found tax defaulters in Lahore city only. The figure of defaulted companies could increase if the department carried out a countrywide verification, he said.
A deputy registrar of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan also appeared before the court and stated three out of 729 HGOs were not registered with the commission while 23 were not issued clearance certificates.
During the course of hearing, a joint secretary of the ministry stated the HGOs had been directed to furnish their complete documents by June 30. At this, Advocate Azhar Siddique, representing new tour operators who complained discrimination on part of the ministry in award of quota, argued the ministry officials had been misleading the court for years. He said the documents presented before the court had established that the Haj quota was not being awarded on merit. He alleged every year the ministry officials awarded quota to many ghost tour operators and misappropriated billions of rupees.
Agencies
|
 |
|
|
| NEWS UPDATES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
