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The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till July 23 the hearing on a leave to appeal petition filed against a High Court verdict that ruled tax imposition on the donated money by Nobel laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus to three trusts in his own name was justified.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order.
Earlier on June 21 this year, the leave to appeal petition was placed against the HC verdict. The Chamber Court of the Appellate Division on July 9 fixed July 17 for a hearing on it. Accordingly, the petition came for hearing on Monday.
The High Court on May 31 ruled that tax imposition on the donated money by Nobel laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus to three trusts is justified.
The High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir delivered the verdict, dismissing three applications filed by Prof Yunus challenging the tax liability on the money donated by him.
The HC bench also said the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes (DCT) of Taxes Zone-6 in Dhaka didn’t do anything illegal by imposing ‘gift tax’ on the donated money.
According to the case documents, Prof Yunus donated Tk 767.33 million to three trusts namely ‘Professor Muhammad Yunus Trust’, ‘Yunus Family Trust’ and ‘Yunus Centre’.
Later, the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes (DCT) of Taxes Zone-6 in Dhaka imposed a ‘gift tax’ on the donated money for the assessment years 2011-2012 to 2013-2014 which amounts to Tk 153.91 million.
Prof Yunus then filed appeal petitions against the tax imposition on the donated money. However, the Tax Appellate Tribunal upheld the decision of the DCT. Then he moved the High Court.