KARACHI: A division bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Syed Saeed-uddin Nasir on Thursday adjourned hearing of a number of identical petitions filed by senior practicing lawyers against imposition of income tax upon lawyers.
Barrister Faroogh A. Nasim appearing for the petitioner at the out set referred to the section 18 of the Income Tax Ordinance and said that income from business and profession are well distinguished. There is no head of Income under which lawyers could be taxed, he submitted making reference to section 39 also.
The bench observed that if his argument is accepted it would mean that lawyers cannot be taxed for their income.
There are number of judgments by yourself, said Dr. Faroogh Nasim while reading out categories given in the section 39 specifying persons or activities that could be taxed.
He said that section 2, sub section 10 (definition section) cannot be read with section 18 which is a charging section. To augment his contentions, Dr. Faroogh A. Nasim relied upon a judgment by Indian Supreme Court and also relied upon section 10 of 1922 Income Tax Act. The charging section has to stand alone on merits, he said.
He arguing when the court adjourned hearing till Oct 07 when petitioner’s counsel would continue his arguments.