ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals filed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) against a services tribunal ruling that had favoured employees seeking payment of headquarters allowance.
During the hearing, the FBR’s counsel argued that employees of the tax authority were already receiving executive allowance and maintained that headquarters allowance could not be extended to officers appointed under the time-scale system.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi questioned whether the allowance had been approved by the prime minister.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asked the FBR to produce the relevant summary before the bench to determine the basis of the allowance and the government’s decision on the matter.
The FBR lawyer contended that the headquarters allowance was intended for Grade-17 officers, whereas the employees who had approached the court did not fall into that category.
The chief justice, however, observed that the summary did not contain anything supporting the counsel’s claim. He directed the FBR to resubmit the summary if it wanted to establish a distinction between time-scale employees and other officers.
The FBR’s counsel also challenged the jurisdiction of the services tribunal, arguing that it was not competent to entertain the matter. He requested the Supreme Court to issue a notice to the Finance Division.
More than 40 FBR employees had approached the apex court seeking headquarters allowance on the basis of their time-scale appointments.
The Supreme Court ultimately rejected the FBR’s appeals, leaving the services tribunal’s decision in favour of the employees intact.
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