The Supreme Court of Pakistan has prohibited cellular companies from levying additional charges on post-paid connections.
A three-member bench of the apex court was hearing the case on Tuesday. As the hearing went under way, the additional attorney general requested the court to grant more time to submit a response to the court. Meanwhile, Advocate General Ahmad Awais told the court that the Punjab government was incurring a loss of Rs2 billion per month due to the additional charges. The Sindh advocate general said the government’s loss in the province was a billion rupees per month.
In response, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar said the court was aware of the losses incurred by the provinces. The top judge criticised what he said were excessive service charges billed to the cell phone customers. “If you buy Rs100 worth of credit, Rs25 are deducted. What are these service charges?” he said. “If a person buys bread would they not want to eat it,” he added.
A lawyer representing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) maintained that the Rs25, deducted as service charges, were not given to the board. “The tax deducted on each call is received by the national exchequer,” he said.
Published in Daily Times, October 17th 2018.
