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The Appellate Division’s chamber court has stayed a High Court verdict directing Grameen Kalyan, an organisation founded by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, to pay Tk666 crore in disputed income tax.
Chamber Judge Justice Md Rezaul Haque passed the order on Sunday (October 18), following appeals filed by Grameen Kalyan, the organisation’s lawyer Barrister Khaja Tanvir Ahmed told media.
The court has scheduled hearings on the two appeals before a full bench of the Appellate Division led by the chief justice on December 13.
The stay means Grameen Kalyan will not have to pay the disputed amount for the time being, lawyers said.
On September 10, the High Court dismissed two writ petitions filed by Grameen Kalyan challenging the legality of the National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) demand for Tk666 crore in income tax for five assessment years, from 2012-13 to 2016-17.
The full verdicts, spanning 15 and 32 pages, were published on October 15.
In its observations, the High Court described the case as “a classic example of tax evasion”, saying the organisation had prolonged the dispute and deprived the government of revenue.
The court also noted that Grameen Kalyan had paid income tax of a similar nature for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 assessment years. The organisation later challenged that tax through an income tax reference filed in 2019 but subsequently withdrew the case.
The High Court further observed that the organisation had repeatedly taken positions contrary to its own stance on the same issue.