KARACHI: M/s Al-Mehran Cotton Ginners and Oil Mills and five others has approached the Sindh High Court (SHC), challenging SRO No 188 (1)/2015 forcing the petitioners to pay Rs 6 per 40 kilograms on all in-house and outside supply of cotton seed.
The counsel for the petitioners stated that they are running a business of ginned cotton and oil mills which is seasoned activity and manufacturing cotton lint, cottonseed, oil cake and cottonseed oil and paying all leviable taxes properly.
However, according to them, the Secretary Revenue Division issued SRO NO 188 (1)/2015 on 5th March 2015 binding the petitioners to pay Rs 6 per 40 kilograms on all in-house and outside supply w.e.f 1 July 2014 and onward.
The counsel stated that petitioners are cotton ginners who purchase raw phutti and after manufacturing process, it obtains two products, one is cotton lint and the other is cotton seed. The sales tax is paid on electricity used in the process of manufacturing is in terms of section 7 of the sales tax Act,1990. However this right has been deprived from the petitioners through issuance of said SRO, which is illegal and without any jurisdiction.
Citing Secretary Revenue Division, the Chief Commissioner (IR) Regional Tax Office (RTO), Hyderabad, and the Deputy Commissioner IR Enforcement and Collecting Unit-X as the respondents, the petitioners requested the SHC to to declare the said SRO as unconstitutional and illegal.