Grameen Kalyan gains a temporary pause on a 6.66 billion taka tax payment
Bangladesh’s appellate chamber temporarily stayed a judgment requiring Grameen Kalyan to pay 6.66 billion taka in income tax. The dispute covers five assessment years and will return before a full bench on 13 December. The order suspends the earlier ruling while appeals proceed; it leaves the underlying tax dispute unresolved.
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Payment pauses while the appeals proceed
Bangladesh’s Appellate Division temporarily suspended the High Court judgment requiring Grameen Kalyan, the organization founded by Muhammad Yunus, to pay disputed income tax. Justice Md Rezaul Haque issued the order on 18 October after the organization applied to the chamber court, the appellate body’s single-judge forum for interim applications. The decision concerns a demand of 6.66 billion taka from the National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh’s revenue authority.[1], [2]
A hearing before a full Appellate Division bench has been fixed for 13 December. Grameen Kalyan’s lawyer Khaja Tanvir Ahmed said the organization would not have to pay for the time being. The chamber order changes the immediate payment requirement; the validity of the tax assessment remains before the courts as the appeals move to the full bench.[1]
Five assessment years are in dispute
The demand covers five assessment years, from 2012–13 through 2016–17. Grameen Kalyan challenged the reassessment through two writ petitions filed in 2017. On 10 September, the High Court rejected the two challenges and required payment. The full judgments in those separate cases were published on 15 October, and the organization lodged two appeals with the Appellate Division’s relevant office on the morning of 18 October.[1], [2]
An earlier bench’s judgment was recalled
The proceedings had already passed through another High Court bench. That bench dismissed the petitions on 4 August 2024, then recalled its judgment because one of its judges had previously represented the government in these cases as a deputy attorney general. The case files were sent to the chief justice and assigned to a new bench. The Times of Bangladesh also reported that a separate stay application was dropped from the chamber court’s hearing list on 14 September.[2]
There is also an earlier tax reference involving different assessment years. The High Court had noted that Grameen Kalyan paid income tax of the same nature for 2017–18 and 2018–19, challenged it through a 2019 reference and later withdrew that case. The two appeals now awaiting the December hearing concern the five earlier years and the judgment temporarily stayed on 18 October.[1]
