Tax officials on unlawful directions issued by Chairman ARU breached statutory confidentiality of Sarina Isa’s tax returns: Justice Afridi 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 29 (SABAH): Justice Yahya Afridi has observed that the tax officials on the unlawful directions issued by the Chairman ARU, Barrister Shahzad Akbar with the concurrence of the Federal Law Minister, Dr. Farogh Naseem, breached the statutory confidentiality of Mrs Sarina Faez Isa’s tax returns.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday issued a detailed ruling in a case pertaining to review petitions filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa in the apex court against the verdict on presidential reference against him. The court had issued the short order of the case on 26/04/2021 and issued the detailed judgment on Saturday.  

The 45-page judgment was authored by Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aminuddin Khan and an 11-pqge additional note was penned by Justice Yahya Khan Afridi.

“Before concluding, I think it is proper to make clear that the present order, by no means, seeks to curtail the lawful authority of the President, the Council and the tax officials to proceed against any Judge of the Superior Judiciary, including the Petitioner Judge, in accordance with law as mandated by Article 4 of the Constitution. We cannot champion the rule of law if we breed complacency in judicial accountability, a feature that seeks to uphold and bolster the rule of law. Thus, it is important to ensure that there are no artificial impediments to CRP No. 296 of 2020, etc 43 ensuring accountability of judges, provided accountability is pursued in accordance with law. This exposition of authority, in particular, of the tax officials, however, should in no way detract them from their statutory duty to remain steadfast in ensuring the confidentiality of the information of a tax filer as mandated under section 216 of the Ordinance which, as noted in the judgment under review, was blatantly breached in the case of Mrs. Sarina Faez Isa: the tax officials on the unlawful directions issued by the Chairman ARU, Barrister Shahzad Akbar with the concurrence of the Federal Law Minister, Dr. Farogh Naseem, breached the statutory confidentiality of Mrs Sarina Faez Isa’s tax returns. I feel constrained to observe that allowing the said delinquents to continue in such important positions of authority by the worthy Prime Minister, and that too after this Court has unanimously declared their actions to be in violation of the Constitution and law, particularly the provisions of section 216 of the Ordinance entailing penal consequences, belies the most elementary principles of “good governance”, and expose the worthy Prime Minister’s complicity in the commission of the said violations” Justice Yahya Afridi wrote.