SC told LMS doesn’t help in capturing cases data

FBR's litigation

Islamabad

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has revealed to the Supreme Court that the Litigation Management System (LMS), a monetary system, does not help in capturing data and information of thousands of cases at all stages, and the information fed into LMS is incomplete in many aspects.

The FBR further admitted that it is not possible for its legal wing or any other department to track the fate of cases pending with various courts of law or decided by them. In pursuance of the court order of June 16, 2016, Secretary Revenue Division Nisar Muhammad submitted a report before the apex court, revealing tracing tens of thousands of cases pending adjudication in FBR’s relevant courts.

The apex court, in its order, after hearing different petitions pertaining to pending cases in the FBR had directed the board to state the steps taken to ensure a foolproof system of monitoring and control of its revenue claims against tax payers.

The FBR informed the court that LMS provides only initial information adding this is particularly true in respect of cases where FBR’s cases have been dismissed for such defaults as non-prosecution, time-barred filing, non-compliance of courts’ orders and unauthorised filings.  

The court was further informed that such cases are not reported to FBR by the field formations either manually or electronically. The report further stated that the FBR has initiated development of new computerised monitoring system with the help of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL). 

It, however, submitted that the said project would subsequently involve a gigantic exercise of feeding information about a huge number of cases relating to all field formation of FBR in order to cover every aspect of litigation throughout the country.

“However, the development and implementation of a comprehensive computerised monitoring and tracking system would entail a lengthy and meticulous exercise of data entry of potential tens of thousands of cases with historic information at each stage of litigation,” the report further revealed.

The report added that this ultimate state of operational efficiency is expected to be achieved in another six months’ time after the success of pilot project.

The apex court, while following the hearings of different petitions on revenue related matters, had also directed the FBR to intimate the court pertaining to status of disciplinary proceedings against the Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office (RTO), Rawalpindi, Muhammad Tanvir Akhtar. 

In this respect, the FBR in its report submitted that the board had mobilised disciplinary action against the said officer, but he had also filed representation to the prime minister. The court was further informed that the Establishment Division has asked for FBR’s comments with regard to the representation of officer and consequently has not forwarded the case of disciplinary proceedings against the officer (Tanvir) under reference to the prime minister.