Sri Lankan court orders temporary stay on VAT, NBT implementation 

A Sri Lankan court on Monday issued a temporary stay order on VAT, NBT implementation. It was issued by a 3- member Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice K. Sripavan when the Fundamental Rights petition filed by several opposition MPs including Wimal Weerwansa  was taken up for hearing today, the Court Registrar’s office confirmed a short while ago.

The court also ordered the cancellation of two circulars issued by the Inland Revenue Department relating to the implementation of VAT and NBT revisions. The interim order will be in force till the conclusion of the hearing of the FR petition and after passing of amendments to the relevant Acts in parliament.
Judges Buwaneka Aluvihare and Prasanna Jayawardane where the others on the bench.  In March this year, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) to 15 per cent from 11 per cent earlier while the Nation Building Tax (NTB) remained unchanged at 2 per cent. (Bandula)