ISLAMABAD, May 23: After a lapse of more than 40 hours, the fate of the presidential ordinance seeking imposition of Rs152 billion taxes remains unclear.

No official word was issued to clarify the status of the ordinance till the filing of this report late Thursday night.

However, a presidential spokesperson told Dawn on Thursday that President Asif Ali Zardari has not signed the ordinance as of today. “We received the ordinance yesterday (Wednesday) but the president has not signed it so far,” he confirmed.

To add to the confusion, Law Minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi also changed his earlier comments and said that the president has not signed the ordinance.

He added that so far his ministry has not received the file of ordinance signed or unsigned.

The officials also did not confirm whether the draft ordinance is still awaiting the signature of the president.

But a source in the presidency, who did not want to be named, claimed that the file of the draft ordinance was sent back to the prime minister secretariat on the plea that the decision of the proposed revenue measures should be left to the next government.

The imposition of such a huge amount of taxes should be announced in the next budget, the source added.

The claim that the file was sent back was not officially confirmed by any senior officials in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) or finance ministry.

A source in the FBR said that the board has not received the signed or unsigned copy as of today.

“We waited the whole day for the copy of ordinance to issue a press statement,” the source said.

Later in the evening, the FBR was also informed by the adviser on finance Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry that the president has not signed the ordinance.

A tax official said that these are the revenue proposals for next year.

“We need revenue, whether these are implemented through ordinance or announced in the next budget,” the official said.

As controversy surrounds the ordinance, another source said that the caretaker government has also started informal consultations with the PML-N government over the ordinance.

The PML-N designated Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was contacted on his cell phone. However, he did not receive the call nor did he reply to the message.

The office bearers of the PML-N when contacted were not willing to be quoted on the issue.

However, Deputy General Secretary of the party Ihsan Iqbal told Dawn that the money bill can only be passed by the assembly. He said the party will only comment when the ordinance was issued.

Asked whether the caretaker government has informally consulted PML-N over the ordinance, Mr Iqbal said it was not in his knowledge. However, he said imposition of taxes through ordinance was not the proper way.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court suspended postings and transfers made by the caretaker government.

According to experts, the president may have refrained from signing the ordinance in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision.

In the parliament house, central leader of PPP, Senator Raza Rabbani warned the caretaker government to avoid imposition of new taxes through the ordinance.

An ordinance concerning the money bill can only be laid before the National Assembly under the law, he said.

“How can you do it when the National Assembly does not exists,” he remarked and described the caretaker government submission of ordinance for promulgation as unconstitutional.

It must be noted that in case the president does not sign the ordinance within 15 days, it will be deemed to have been signed.