The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till July 23 the hearing on a petition filed by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus seeking leave to appeal against the National Board of Revenue (NBR) verdict by the High Court.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, passed the order on Monday. Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state at the time.
Also read: Trial against Dr Yunus to continue in labour court: Appellate Division
Earlier on June 21, a leave to appeal was filed against the High Court verdict. On July 9, the chamber court fixed July 17 for hearing in the Appellate Division. Accordingly, it came up for hearing in the Appellate Division today.
According to the petition, NBR served three separate notices claiming Tk 12,28,74,000 as tax against Tk 61.57 crore as donation during 2011-2012 fiscal year, Tk 1.60 crore tax against Tk 8.15 crore as donation in 2012-2013 FY and Tk 1.50 crore as tax against Tk 7 crore as donation in 2013-2014 FY as per the Donation Tax-1990.
Also read: Appellate Division orders disposal of Dr Yunus’ writ petition over Grameen Kalyan
Dr Yunus claimed the tax against donation and challenged the validity notices of NBR and filed a case in the Appellate Tribunal. According to him, NBR cannot claim tax against donation as per law.
On November 20, 2014, his application was rejected. Then in 2015, he filed three income tax reference cases in the High Court and suspended the effectiveness of donor claim notices after the preliminary hearing of the cases.
Also read: HC asks Dr Yunus to pay over Tk 12 crore as donation tax
After that the High Court ruled on May 31, that the donation imposed by the NBR against the money that he had donated to the three trusts established in his name considering the death and the welfare of the family members was valid.
After the verdict on May 31, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters that Dr Yunus had donated Tk 77 crore to three institutions. “He says you don't have to pay taxes to the contrary. We said the NBR gave him a notice because of this. He later filed three reference cases in the High Court. The High Court references are correct. The petitions were dismissed. Now the tax demanded by the NBR will have to be paid. The NBR had demanded more than Tk 15 crore. He (DR Yunus) has already given around Tk 3 crore. Now the remaining Tk 12 crore will have to be paid in taxes.”