The Supreme Court has temporarily halted a High Court order requiring Grameen Kalyan to pay Tk 666 crore in taxes claimed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), pending further proceedings.
The Appellate Division chamber judge court issued the stay on Sunday in a case involving Grameen Kalyan, owned by former interim government chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus.
The chamber judge court, led by Justice Md Rezaul Haque, issued the order on October 18 after hearing Grameen Kalyan’s appeal against the High Court verdict. The full bench of the Appellate Division is scheduled to hear the case on December 13.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun represented Grameen Kalyan during the hearing.
On September 10, the High Court ruled that Grameen Kalyan must pay the Tk 666 crore in taxes claimed by the NBR. A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Mia and Justice Rezaul Karim delivered the verdict, dismissing a rule issued in connection with a writ petition filed over the matter.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun and Barrister Fida M Kamal represented Dr Yunus in court.
The 15-page and 32-page full verdicts were published on October 15 after the relevant High Court bench signed them on October 12. Grameen Kalyan subsequently appealed against the verdicts.
On October 4, 2024, following the July mass uprising, the High Court suo motu withdrew an earlier verdict concerning the NBR’s claim for Tk 666 crore in taxes from Grameen Kalyan. The High Court bench comprising Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir withdrew the verdict and sent the case documents to the chief justice.
The case was subsequently assigned to a new bench for a hearing. Following a reassessment, Grameen Kalyan filed 2 separate writ petitions in 2017 concerning tax demands for the 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 tax years.
After initial hearings, the court issued a rule, which the new High Court bench later dismissed in its verdict.
Lawyers said the dismissal of the writ petitions means the NBR can collect the amount from Grameen Kalyan as income tax.
