Peshawar High Court (PHC) has declared the levy of a cess on the transportation of timber by the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Mansehra as illegal, stating that the administration had no independent authority to impose any tax, fee, or cess.
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A single-member bench headed by Justice Syed Mudassir Ameer ruled that the TMA’s role is limited to proposing such levies to the tehsil council for approval and that any imposition beyond statutory provisions violates the law. The judgement was issued while rejecting a revision petition by TMA Mansehra, which had challenged previous court rulings in favour of the Forest Development Corporation (FDC).
FDC had filed a suit asserting its legal right to transport timber from the Balakot forest division to roadside depots and onward to markets in Havelian without paying the disputed cess. Both the trial court and the district appellate court had ruled in FDC’s favour, declaring the levy unlawful.
The bench referenced the now-repealed NWFP Local Government Ordinance, 2001, noting that a tehsil municipal administration’s authority to propose taxes, fees, or charges is strictly confined to those listed in Part-III of the Second Schedule of the ordinance. The court emphasized that taxing power is not inherent and must flow directly from statutory provisions.
“It is settled that no tax, fee or cess can be imposed or collected except by clear authority of law,” the judgement stated, citing Articles 77 and 127 of the Constitution. Any levy without statutory sanction is “without lawful authority and therefore void,” the court added.
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The bench also dismissed the TMA’s claim that only high courts under Article 199 could hear challenges to such levies, affirming that civil courts have plenary jurisdiction to adjudicate such matters under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.