Peshawar High Court Bars Excise Duty on Hand-Stemmed Tobacco
A two-judge bench disposed of 14 petitions by growers, companies and threshing units against the levy, warehouse sealing and confiscation.
The Peshawar High Court has held that federal excise duty cannot be imposed on green leaf or hand-stemmed tobacco unless the leaf has been processed and converted by a green leaf threshing (GLT) unit, Dawn reported.
A bench of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Mohammad Faheem Wali gave the ruling while disposing of 14 petitions, according to the newspaper.
The petitioners were tobacco growers, tobacco companies and GLT units. They challenged the levy of federal excise duty on hand-stemmed tobacco, the sealing of warehouses and godowns belonging to some of them, and the confiscation of un-manufactured tobacco and machinery kept in those premises.
ProPakistani reported that the verdict was delivered on Thursday and described the ruling as covering green leaves and hand-made tobacco.
The order means the duty does not attach to the leaf at the hand-stemming stage, before it passes through a threshing unit. Dawn put the holding in those terms, saying the levy required processing and conversion by a GLT unit.
The two outlets described the same holding in slightly different words. Dawn's headline referred to hand-stemmed tobacco, while ProPakistani's referred to green leaves and hand-made tobacco.
Dawn reported that the bench issued multiple directions along with its order, but the text of those directions was not available in the accounts published by either outlet.
The bench disposed of the petitions rather than granting the relief sought in full, Dawn reported. Neither report said whether the warehouses and godowns sealed in the petitioners' cases would reopen or whether the confiscated machinery and un-manufactured tobacco would be returned.
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