English medium students: VAT illegal, HC

The High Court on Monday declared illegal the imposition of value added tax on tuition fees for students of English medium schools.
The bench of Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah in the verdict in a writ petition filed by two guardians of English medium students also asked the National Board of Revenue not to collect the value added tax from January 2017.
The revenue board had imposed value added tax on tuition fees, semester fees, admission fees, library fees, exam fees, registration fees, and other charges collected from the students with effect from June 4, 2010.
In September 2015, the government withdrew 7.5 per cent VAT on education services of private universities after several days of protests by students who blocked streets in Dhaka and elsewhere, causing mass suffering.
The English medium schools in the country began to collect a 7.5 per cent value added tax from the students following a revenue board order issued on June 5, 2014 amid protests from guardians and students.
On September 14, 2015, week-long street protests by students of private universities forced the government to withdraw 7.5 per cent VAT imposed on their tuition fees by the revenue board.
In such backdrop, students of English medium schools and their parents took to the streets for the withdrawal of value added tax on their tuition fees.
The High Court on September 17 stayed the realisation of the value added tax on the tuition fees asking the government to explain the legality of the imposition of the value added tax following a writ petition filed by two guardians Md Faizul Islam and Md Selim Azam.
The students, however, had to pay the value added tax as the Appellate Division on October 14, 2015 halted the operation of the High Court order that had stayed the realisation of the VAT.
After the Monday’s High Court verdict, petitioners’ lawyer Shahdeen Malik expressed hope that the government would not appeal against the verdict, adding that such an appeal would victimise the English medium school students.
He said that the imposition of the value added tax on education for only the English medium students was discriminatory, arbitrary and in contrary to the constitution and the education policy of the government. 
Shahdeen said that Articles 15 and 17 of the constitution prohibited the state from taking any measure detrimental to educational opportunities of school going children. 
The value added tax on tuition fees was detrimental to education, he said.

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