LAHORE, Dec 13: The Lahore High Court on Thursday sought a report from the Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority (PTA) about compliance of the court’s previous order regarding suspension of an additional tax levied on international incoming calls to Pakistan.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan was hearing a petition against the levy of the additional tax filed by Brain Telecommunication Limited, a Local Loop Operator (LLO).

During the course of the hearing, the PTA counsel stated that the tax was levied in pursuance of instruction issued by the federal government (ministry of information and technology). He said the tax had been withdrawn, however, he did not produce the notification issued to the effect.

The judge adjourned further hearing till Jan 14 and asked the counsel to produce the notification along with a compliance report. The petitioner-company had stated that the additional tax on the incoming international calls was a violation of the rules prescribed in section 4 of the Competition Commission Act which prohibited price fixing and division of market through quotas.

It said overseas Pakistanis had been facing immense difficulty and financial loss due to the ‘illegal’ additional tax. After the levy of the said tax since Oct 1, 2012 Pakistanis living abroad had been paying four times extra charges on a phone call made to homeland. — Staff Reporter