Daily Times

KARACHI: Murtaza Wahab asserted on Monday that the ECP didn’t consult with the administration over the date of the local government election.

Administrator Karachi was briefing the media after the municipal tax collection hearing in the Sindh High Court (SHC).

The election commission has set the local election date of October 23 without consultation with the government of Sindh, he said.

Talking at the court hearing, Wahab said that the court has been informed that the tax has been imposed after fulfilling all legal requirements.

“It is not a new tax but an old one, which is being collected with a new mechanism,” he said. “We had collected 61.9 million rupees tax before the court’s stay order,” he informed.

“Past municipal administrations were giving pretext of not having powers but under the same powers we are working and recovering tax,” Administrator Karachi said. “The tax will deposit 3.25 billion rupees in a year to the KMC’s account,” he said.

“It is a transparent system, but some people who don’t want transparency, are against it,” he said. ” The details of the tax amount will be given each month on the website,” he said. “The website will also give information about spending of the tax money on a specific project,” he said.

“The tax money will be spent with honesty, people could ask about the spending,” he said. “It was good when Naimatullah Khan had commercialized roads under the law, I am promoting transparency,” he said. “I am performing every work in accordance with the law,” he added.

Earlier, in the hearing on the municipal tax, the court-appointed two constitutional experts and former attorney generals, Munir A. Malik and Khalid Javed Khan, to assist the court in the case.