Peshawar High Court declares levy of excise duty on hand-stemmed tobacco illegal
Dawn · Bureau Report ·
Court orders de-sealing of several premises of tobacco growers, companies.
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has declared that Federal Excise Duty (FED) couldn’t be imposed on green leaf and hand-stemmed tobacco unless it has been processed and converted by a green leaf threshing (GLT) unit.
A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Mohammad Faheem Wali disposed of 14 petitions filed by some tobacco growers, tobacco companies and GLT units, challenging the levy of FED on hand-stemmed tobacco, sealing of warehouses and godowns of some of the petitioners and confiscation of ‘un-manufactured’ tobacco and machinery present therein.
The bench issued multiple directives in its 29-page detailed judgement wherein it discussed threadbare different provisions of the FED Act, 2005, and its applicability to manufactured and un-manufactured tobacco.