CHITRAL: A division bench of Peshawar High Court on Tuesday suspended and declared illegal the imposition of a tax on the transport out of potatoes from the Lotkoh valley.
The tax was imposed by the tehsil municipal administration of Chitral a few months ago.
After the imposition of the tax, the political representatives of the area criticized the move of the TMA and demanded its withdrawal but to no avail. Later, civil society activists from Lotkoh challenged the tax in the high court.
Taking up the application at the Swat bench in Mangora, Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar and Justice Syed Irshad Ali issued direction to suspend the tax. The bench also ordered the tehsil nazim and the tehsil municipal officer of Chitral to appear before the bench on the next hearing of the matter. –Sher Jahan Sahil