Supreme Court Reveals Date To Deliver Judgment On VAT Collection

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The Supreme Court has announced a date to deliver judgement concerning the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) filed by Rivers state government.

The court said it will deliver judgement on the 6th of May, 2022.

Recall that the Rivers Government had approached the Supreme Court after being ordered by a Court of Appeal to maintain the status quo on the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT).

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The state government in its 10 grounds of appeal, asked the apex court to order that the substantive appeal by the FIRS marked CA/PH/282/2021, and all other processes therein, be heard and determined by a new panel of the Court of Appeal.

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Rivers state government which asked the supreme court to declare that Tsammani-led panel erred in its judgement by relying on the provisions of Section 6(6) of the 1999 Constitution and the inherent jurisdiction of the appellate court, to order all the parties to maintain status quo on the VAT dispute, noted that the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal in relying on the inherent jurisdiction of the court to make the order on the subject matter of this Appeal, failed to appreciate that the inherent jurisdiction of the court cannot be applied in contravention of statutory provisions.

The appellate court panel was also accused of failing to take into account a decision of the Supreme Court in SHUGABA V. UNION BANK [1999],11 NWLR (pt. 627), page 459, to the effect “that no court has an inherent jurisdiction (except in extreme circumstances) to set aside the exercise of discretion of another court with regards to order made in respect of an application for stay of execution.

The state also argued that the Court of Appeal panel erred in law when they wrongly assumed jurisdiction to entertain on the oral application that counsel of the FIRS made for the maintenance of status quo by parties in the dispute, in spite of the fact that condition precedent for the invocation of the inherent jurisdiction of the appellate court was not fulfilled by the 1st Respondent (FIRS).