Top court stays verdict declaring VAT on English-medium school tuition illegal

A stay has been ordered on a High Court verdict, that ruled as illegal the VAT imposed on tuition fees of English-medium schools.

The Appellate Division's order came on Tuesday after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) filed a petition.

The four-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has instructed the NBR to file an appeal over the Dec 12 verdict and fixed Jan 29 for the next hearing.

A 4.5 percent VAT had been imposed on the tuition fees of English-medium educational institutions in 2012. It was increased to 7.5 percent in the current year’s budget and was also extended to cover private universities.

The tax on university students was dismissed after they launched large-scale protests.

Following the success of the university protests, guardians of English-medium students began protests to remove the tax on tuition fees in the schools.

In September last year, the High Court stayed the collection of VAT after hearing a petition filed by guardians of two students.

The court issued a rule asking why the collection of VAT should not be deemed illegal.

The NBR secured a stay of eight weeks on the High Court order after a hearing with the Supreme Court's chamber judge.

More than a year after the petition, the High Court settled the rule on the verdict on Dec 12 last year, when it said that imposing VAT on tuition fees of English-medium schools was illegal.

Source: bdnews24