The Supreme Court has ordered the six mobile-phone operators in Bangladesh to pay the government Tk 950 million in VAT against the rent they paid in last four years.
A four-strong Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha delivered a verdict to this effect on Thursday.
It vacated a High Court order that had stayed a National Board of Revenue (NBR) instruction to pay the tax.
The stay order had come after the operators moved the High Court challenging the NBR instruction.
The Appellate Division, however, ordered continuation of the hearing of a rule the High Court had issued on the operators’ petition.
“Now the operators have to pay the money,” Deputy Attorney General SM Moniruzzaman told bdnews24.com on Friday.
“The court has said the operators will get the money back if they win the legal battle at the High Court. Or else, the money will remain with the national exchequer,” he added.
NBR’s Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) in April this year ordered Grameenphone to pay Tk 190 million, Banglalink Tk 340 million, Airtel Tk 160 million, Robi Tk 150 million, Citycell Tk 70 million and Teletalk Tk 40 million in VAT against the rent they paid from 2011 to 2015 for their towers and other establishments.
Grameenphone, Banglalink, Airtel and Robi moved the High Court separately against the order.
The court issued a rule on the NBR and stayed its order for three months.
Deputy Attorney General Moniruzzaman represented the State while Rokon Uddin Mahmud, Fida M Kamal, AM Amin Uddin and Sharif Bhuiyan argued for the operators at Thursday hearing.
Airtel lawyer Amin Uddin told bdnews24.com that the Appellate Division ordered the High Court bench led by Justice Zinat Ara to hear and dispose of the rule by July 31.
Source: Bd news24