An application has been filed seeking a stay on a High Court ruling that Grameen Kalyan, owned by former interim government chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, must pay 6.66 billion taka in tax.
The application was filed at the Chamber Court on Monday (September 14).
Dr Yunus’s lawyer, Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, confirmed the matter. He said Grameen Kalyan had filed the application at the Chamber Court seeking a stay on the High Court ruling, and that a hearing could take place at the Chamber Court as early as Monday.
Earlier, on Thursday (September 10), the High Court ruled that Grameen Kalyan, owned by Dr Muhammad Yunus, must pay the 6.66 billion taka in tax claimed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). The High Court bench led by Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Miah delivered the ruling that day, stating that Grameen Kalyan must pay the amount within the next three fiscal years.
After the July mass uprising, on October 4, the High Court suo motu withdrew its earlier order requiring Grameen Kalyan, owned by Dr Muhammad Yunus, to pay the 6.66 billion taka claimed by the NBR. The High Court bench of Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir withdrew that ruling, and the case file was sent to the chief justice. The case was subsequently assigned to a new bench.
Following a reassessment, Dr Yunus’s organisation filed two separate writ petitions in 2017 over the tax demand against Grameen Kalyan for the assessment years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. The court issued a rule after a preliminary hearing. However, the new High Court bench dismissed the rule last Thursday. With the writ petitions dismissed, the NBR can now recover that amount from Grameen Kalyan as income tax.