He said the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) conducted a test for the appointments of judicial members in Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR) in 2013 and appointments have been finalized in 2019. Therefore, the ministry has requested Justice Saqib Nisar former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and then Justice Asif Khoosa, CJP to appoint judicial members in ATIR and Appellate Tribunal Customs on the recommendations of the ministry on an ad hoc basis till the finalisation of the appointments by FPCS.
While criticising the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) for playing Sindh card, he said that when they talked about any article, the Sindh government was trying to play Sindh card and termed it a conspiracy against Sindh just to protect its own corruption. He informed the participants that although Pakistan was presently facing economic and governance challenges, things would get improved in coming days as Prime Minister Imran Khan was an honest person and had no personal agenda.
Furthermore, Barrister Dr Farogh said that 80 percent of country's economy was based on agriculture and unfortunately it was exempted from federal income tax. He requested the participants to build a public opinion for brining agro-income into federal tax ambit for prosperity in the country. He said that it was a long lasting demand of the bar for timely issuance of return forms, which needed to be clarified and the FBR should allow maximum two months period for finalizing returns.
The minister also lambasted Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Nationalization and Economic Reforms Order (NERO), saying that NERO was promulgated in January 1, 1972 with the aim to destroy the then 22 affluent families but it had provided irreparable loss to the country and we were still struggling to pull out from the crisis.
Moreover, he said the incumbent government had business friendly agenda but it didn't mean to make National Accountability Bureau (NAB) toothless; adding that PM Imran Khan appreciated the document 'Bill of Right' prepared by the president PTBA Abdul Qadir Memon and ministry was planning to work on it in consultation with the bar. He said that ministry was also making 10-12 amendments, especially in property inheritance law of Pakistan to protect the rights of women and also repealing court dress law. He also requested the bar to nominate a group of tax lawyers to assist the federal law ministry as it had only 3 to 4 working strength out of total 500 staffers.
Earlier, in his welcome address, President PTBA Abdul Qadir Memon raised the issue related to the appointments of members in appellate tribunal. He said the FBR should active ADRC instead of taking harsh orders, which were not only creating difficulties for taxpayers but also become nuisance for the taxmen and added that penalty in income tax was so high, which should be reduced at rational level.
He also lauded the instructions made by chairman FBR Syed Shabbar Zaidi that restricted field formation from freezing bank accounts and from raids at business premises without prior approval from board. A large number of business persons and bar members were present on the occasion.