Normalising abnormalities
This Tuesday, we saw three breakthroughs on very pivotal issues. First, the Senate passed the 24thAmendment bill on the re-demarcation of constituencies on the basis of a fresh population census…
Women’s Legislative Performance
Ever since almost 17 per cent of seats in Pakistan’s directly elected legislatures were reserved for women, a pattern has emerged of women legislators performing better than their male counterparts…
Constitution and tax codes — II
Justice Ch. Ijaz Ahmad in his separate note in the CIT v Eli Lily (Pvt) Ltd (2009) 100 Tax 81 (S.C. Pak) made the following remarkable comments that should be…
Recouping tax losses judiciously — I
“Judicial overreach is when the judiciary starts interfering with the proper functioning of the legislative or executive organs of the government. This is totally uncharacteristic of the role of the…
Unconstitutional levy
The PTI government on June 26, 2020 to the utter surprise and dismay of all increased the prices of all petroleum products substantially; it is usually done on the first…
Retrieving untaxed/ill-gotten assets — I
In the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Suo Motu Case No. 2 of 2018 re ‘Maintaining of Foreign Accounts by Pakistani Citizens Without Disclosing the Same/Paying Taxes’, is still pending for…
The corrupt, tax cheats, ‘secrecy’ & RTI — I
2020 has started and apparently everyone has forgotten what the Supreme Court desired in Suo Muto Case No. 2 of 2018, started on February 1, 2018, and what happened thereafter.…
The Money Bill
The adoption of Finance Bill 2019 on June 28, 2019 by National Assembly by majority vote of 176 to 146, included many legal amendments that could not have been made…
Finance Act, 2018: Flagrant constitutional violations
The adoption of the Finance Bill 2018 on May 18, 2018 by National Assembly, committing flagrant violations of the supreme law of the land, once again confirms that the outgoing…
Discontent in AJK
Last week, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) witnessed an unprecedented wave of protests led by local traders and activists. This movement forced the authorities to retreat from a proposed legislation…
