After an order by the lower courts, large businesspeople and the fertiliser sector in Islamabad ceased paying 453 billion rupees to the federal government in the form of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC). In addition to forensic audits of fertiliser companies, the committee has been set up to look into other companies and projects.
There have been 2,496 applications filed against GIDC in various courts, with more than 2,000 petitions submitted in the Sindh High Court and the remaining 474 petitions filed in the Lahore High Court. Fertilizer firms believed they had a ten-year agreement with the government under the 2001 Fertilizer Policy that the government would supply them with gas at 70 cents per mmbtu, including all taxes, fees, and levies, regardless of the price of natural gas. Whether it is a federal or provincial tax, it only had an exemption from the general sales tax, which means it was not included.
So, fertiliser companies, industries, and CNG owners say that they haven’t passed this GIDC on to customers, so they aren’t required to send the money to the federation.
In order to resolve this situation, the former Tehreek-e-Insaaf administration gave a 50% reduction on cess to all of these enterprises and institutions and passed an ordinance mandating that other cess arrears be paid in instalments by these companies. If there were any submissions,
The provincial courts have granted injunctions in response to several petitions in this respect, preventing the federal government from collecting the cess amount. Nevertheless, with the creation of the current coalition government, the federal government has resumed collection of the cess amount. A study has been started, and a group of ministers has been put together to look into the problem.
