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Supreme
Court slams tax amnesty law
The Supreme Court gave its determination after the President sought the consultative jurisdiction, in terms of Article 129(1) of the Constitution for an opinion in relation to the Inland Revenue Act. Various groups had taken up the position that the ruling should not be given on the eve of the general election, as it may seem the President was trying to gain undue political advantage from the circumstances and that the ruling be given after the elections. Excerpts of the ruling were faxed to The Sunday Times yesterday by the President's Office. The Supreme Court determined that the provisions of the Act are inconsistent with Article 12(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees every person equal protection of the law, in that it grants immunities to persons who have contravened the laws and thereby defrauded public revenue causing extensive loss to the State. The bench ruled that the Act has created a special class of persons who would be entitled to benefits, denied to others who had complied with the law and paid their dues and that it would not only erode the equal protection of the law but also be antithetic to the Rule of Law, which was the underlying basis of the Constitution. Answering the question whether the Court cannot entertain questions on the validity of an Act, in terms of Article 80(3) of the Constitution and in view of previous decisions, the Court ruled that in view of the above, the ouster clause contained in Article 80(3) is not a bar to the Court expressing an opinion on a question of law referred to it by the President. |
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