Income Tax on Private Univs: SC clears way for HC to hear petitions

GBNEWS24DESK//

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday cleared way for the High Court to hear and dispose of nearly 100 pending writ petitions centring the imposition of 15-percent income tax on private universities.

The apex court dismissed five separate review petitions against its observation that earlier said HC will individually hear and dispose of the writ petitions that challenged the decisions of then caretaker government and elected governments regarding collection of income tax from private institutions.

Yesterday, SC asked the lawyers for the private universities to get their pending writ petitions heard and disposed of by HC as early as possible.

An eight-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the dismissal orders after hearing arguments on the review petitions.

Other seven judges of the bench are Justice Md Nuruzzaman; Justice Obaidul Hassan; Justice Borhanuddin; Justice M Enayetur Rahim; Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam; Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim.

Details of the SC order could not be known as its full text has not been released yet.

However, private universities’ lawyers Barrister Omar Sadat and Barrister Mohammad Sakhwat Hossain said following the SC order, their clients won’t need to pay any income tax till the HC disposes of the writ petitions.

The apex court didn’t alter its previous directive in 2021 that asked the National Board of Revenue not to demand or collect any income tax from private universities across the country until further orders, they said.

Sakhawat Hossain said around 100 writ petitions have been filed with the HC since 2008 regarding the government decision on imposing income tax on private educational institutions, including private universities and private medical, dental and engineering colleges.

There are 98 private universities in Bangladesh, and among them, 84 of them with 4.5 lakh students are currently active, he added.

Meanwhile, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters that the private universities must pay income tax in accordance with the Finance Act.

Additional Attorney General Sk Md Morshed told this correspondent that the HC couldn’t hold hearings and dispose of the pending writ petitions due to pendency of the review petitions which were pending with the SC regarding similar issues.