By By our correspondent
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) to produce the record of the last two years’ utility bills that were collected by the CDGK from the citizens and appraise the court of the ratio adopted by it for increasing utility charges.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Syed Ashraf Hussain, a representative of Pasban, a non-government organisation (NGO), against the imposition of infrastructure tax by the CDGK.
The petitioner submitted that the imposition of infrastructure tax was unjust and there was no justification or provision in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO)-2002 for levying such a tax.
The petitioner’s counsel, Syed Abdul Waheed, said that people were facing hardships due to the infrastructure tax, because as per the new policy, property could not be sold, rented or transferred until the infrastructure tax was cleared. He submitted that the CDGK had no right to impose a tax on citizens who were already paying a number of taxes being imposed by federal and provincial governments adding that there was no law in statute for charging infrastructure tax by the local government.
The petitioner’s counsel claimed that the CDGK was collecting a number of taxes without any just reasons and now has increased the conversancy charges from Rs16 to Rs150 without the approval of the committee concerned.
The CDGK counsel, Manzoor Ahmed, sought time to submit a record of utility bill charges. The contention of the CDGK was that conservancy, fire and other utility charges that were previously recovering by the defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation through Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), were now being collected by the CDGK following a resolution adopted by the city council. It was submitted that all charges that were previously collected by the defunct KMC through KW&SB had been abolished and the same were now collected by the CDGK through a single bill.
The SHC’s division bench headed by Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany directed the CDGK to produce record of the last two years regarding utility bills that were collected from citizens as well as a statement mentioning the criteria of increasing the utility charges. Adjourning the matter till December 9, the court continued the interim stay on the infrastructure tax.
Order modified: The SHC modifying its previous order regarding the appointment of city Nazim as arbitrator to sort out the rehabilitation matter of North Karachi affectees, observed that now the DCO will engage in the preliminary exercise for sorting out the dispute and make final decision with the consultation of City Nazim.