Public power is sacred trust
All public power is a sacred trust, which is to be exercised fairly, justly, honestly and in accordance with law-Supreme Court in Workers' Party Pakistan & Others v Federation of…
There’s no tomorrow with begging bowls
At school, while reading Charles Dickens’ (a personal favourite writer) novels, me and my classmates had developed a clear and serene meaning of what poverty meant — it created within…
Shades of Big Brother
The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) was enacted in 2016 – amidst much outrage and uproar by a multitude of civil society bodies – to govern the realm of…
Countering financial crimes
In recent days, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has taken many steps to enforce internal accountability mechanism to uproot corruption/malpractices within the organisation. The steps like making Chief Commissioners as…
PTI, FBR & tax directories — I
Failure of the coalition of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vis-à-vis economic governance, changing four finance ministers and five chairpersons of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during its tenure since August 2018…
PTI, FBR & tax directories — II
Even otherwise, the above laws could not override the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, 1999 (NAB Ordinance)that applies from January 1, 1985, being special law overrides any such laws as held…
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…
Paradise Papers: Another wake-up call – II
On February 16, 2016, NAB set March 31, 2016 as new deadline to decide the fate of corruption investigations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif,…
Paradise Papers: Another wake-up call – I
The Paradise Papers (a set of 13.4 million confidential electronic documents), released by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on November 5, 2017, is the largest leakage of data to…
Diminishing return filers
Total income tax return filers stood at 1.238 million as of February 15, 2018 of the current tax year 2017 compared to 1.391 million in 2016. This shows that about…
