PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

1.Syed Ziaul Hasan;
2.Shahriar Parveen;
3. Selim Ahsan Khan;
4.Mohammad Amir Hamja Khan;
5. RubinaYeasmin;
6. Md. SarowereAlam

1. Secretary, Ministry Of Finance

2. Secretary, Ministry of Telephone and Telegraph;

3.Chairman, National Board of Revenue;

4. Second Secretary, Value Added Tax (MUSAK)(Policy and Budget

5.Commissioner, Custom, Excise and VAT Commission;

6.Managing Director, Tele Talk Bangladesh Limited

TeleTalk Bangladesh Limited published a notice vide Memo No. Tele Talk/MD/M-5/2005/06 dated 05.05.2005 in different daily newspapers, offering applications through e-mails for the distribution of SIM cards for connections of mobile phones at Taka 1800/=, and also offered to select the subscribers by lottery through computer. After the Lottery draw, on 23.05.2005 the Petitioners were the winners and also knew the dates of SIM collection. But on 13.06.2005, theManaging Director of Tele Talk published in a daily newspaper that the petitioners will have to be pay3000/=, with Taka 1200/= more as VAT. But from the first week of June the company already distributed 20000 SIMs among the subscriber at Taka 1800/= which is discriminatory.

The Court ruled thatTele Talk Bangladesh Limited is the SIM cards trading agent of the Bangladesh Government. S. 3 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931, does not contain provision for imposition or increase of VAT, it includes provision of imposition or increase of customs or excise or sale tax. As the sale of the SIM cards were concluded long before the impugned SRO came into force, so without a clear indication from the wording of a statute, the statute is not to receive retrospective effect. The MD is not authorized to impose VAT. Therefore, the Petitioners were entitled to get the SIM Cards according to the fixed price of Taka 1800/=.

Mr. Justice Md. Awlad Ali

Mr. Justice Zinat Ara