SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPE LINES LIMITED vs COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE, LTO, LAHORE S

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPE LINES LIMITED VS COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE, LTO, LAHORE S.13, Sixth Schedule, Table-1, Sr. No.151, sub-serials (a) and (b)---Exemption for Federally Administrated Tribal Area/Provincially Administrated Tribal Area (FATA/PATA)---"Or" and "and", to be read conjunctively or disjunctively---Interpretation---Arguments of respondent / Department was that the provisions given in sub-serials (a) and (b) of Sr.No.151 were to be read conjunctively as a single preposition; and that if sub-serials (a) and (b) were read disjunctively, it would lead to a very absurd result; and that the word 'supplies' given in sub-serial (a) if read in isolation it would mean all the supplies were exempted from the charge/levy of sales tax under the Sales Tax Act, 1990 which could not be the intent of legislature; thus, it was only when "supplies" was read conjunctively with sub-serial (b) it came out that the 'supplies' and 'imports' by the industries located in the Tribal Areas were exempted from levy of sales tax---Argument of the appellant / SNGPL was that both the sub-serials operate independently and were separately connected to the phrase "as made till 30th June 2024"---Validity---The word "or" is normally disjunctive and "and" is normally conjunctive, but at times, they are read vice versa to give effect to the manifest intentions of the legislature---Legislative history and the intention of the framers clearly point out that concession to the residents of FATA/PATA in respect of immunity from sales tax on supplies was continued by providing breathing space to them to enter into the tax regime gradually and so they were granted all benefits, in the shape of exemption from all taxes, which were available to them prior to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution---Plain reading of S.No.151 did not support the interpretation made by the Department ---Sr.No.151 is divided into two separate and distinct prepositions enumerated separately as (a) and (b) and are divided by use of semi colon---Semi colons are used to join two related but independent clauses---Thus, the expression "and" used in between the two clauses, should be not read conjunctively---Intent of the legislature was manifestly clear that it decided to continue the concession of exemption on sales tax as on supplies till 30th June 2024 in order to provide some breathing space to the inhabitants of FATA/PATA to merge them into the constitutional state---Appeal filed by registered person (SNGPL) was allowed, in circumstances.

SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPE LINES LIMITED vs COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE, LTO, LAHORE S — 2025 PTD 153 INLAND REVENUE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL OF PAKISTAN

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2025 PTD