Grameen Kalyan appeals HC verdict to pay Tk 666 crore

Grameen Kalyan, an organisation owned by former interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, has filed an appeal against a High Court verdict directing it to pay Tk 666 crore in taxes claimed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The appeal was filed with the relevant section of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday (October 18), according to court sources.
On September 10, the High Court ordered Grameen Kalyan to pay the disputed tax amount after dismissing two writ petitions challenging the NBR’s claims.
The verdict was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Rezaul Karim.
Barristers Abdullah Al Mamun and Fida M Kamal represented Yunus during the hearings.
The full texts of the two separate verdicts, running 15 and 32 pages, were released on October 15 after being signed by the judges on October 12.
The dispute concerns income tax claims for five assessment years: 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Grameen Kalyan filed two separate writ petitions in 2017 challenging the tax demands following a reassessment.
On October 4, 2024, the High Court had withdrawn, on its own initiative, an earlier verdict concerning the same tax claim. The decision was made by another bench comprising Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir, which also sent the case records to the chief justice.
The matter was subsequently assigned to a new bench for hearing. After reconsideration, the bench dismissed the writ petitions and delivered the September 10 verdict.
Lawyers said the dismissal of the petitions cleared the way for the NBR to recover the Tk 666 crore in income tax from Grameen Kalyan.
The latest appeal challenges that decision, leaving the tax dispute subject to further proceedings before the Supreme Court.