A petition challenging the appointment of Syed Shabbar Raza Zaidi as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday. Ali Muhammad, a grade-19 officer of the Inland Revenue, moved the petition, making the federal government and the new FBR chairman respondents.
He stated in his petition that the government appointed Zaidi as FBR chairman on May 9 on an “honorary basis/pro bono basis”. Zaidi has been working as a partner of a private chartered accountant firm, he added.
“According to the law laid down by the IHC, under the FBR Act, a person from private sector may be appointment chairman of the FBR in the exceptional and extraordinary circumstances through a duly advertised process,” the petitioner argued, adding that the court had previously set aside the appointment of Arshad Ali Hakim, a person from the private sector, who was appointed on a two-year contract in a similar manner by the government.
“There is no law which permits that the post of the FBR chairman be filled on an honorary basis,” the petitioner stated. “Zaidi has neither requisite experience nor qualification in tax administration nor of even working in any significant magisterial or administrative position in any private organisation comparable to FBR,” Ali said. The petitioner requested the court to declare his appointment as illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Zaidi as FBR chairman. The premier gave preference to him over Ahmad Mujtaba Memon – a Grade-21 career bureaucrat of the Pakistan Customs. A chartered accountant by profession, Zaidi has vowed to bring administrative reforms in the tax machinery. Six months back, the government had offered Zaidi the same position, but he had refused.
