Islamabad (Web Desk): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday barred the federal government from blocking the SIMs of non-filers.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq led the proceedings of the petition filed by a private mobile and issued a stay order till May 27.
The development came days after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and telecom operators agreed on blocking of SIMs of non-filers as part of the government's bid to curb tax evasion.
Advocate Salman Akram Raja appeared in court on behalf of the private mobile company and argued that the amendment in the law violates the fundamental right to business freedom enshrined in Article 18 of the Constitution.
He further argued that the companies would face a loss of Rs1 billion annually if more than 500,000 SIMs were blocked.
On May 12, it was reported that telecom operators blocked mobile phone SIMs of over 3,500 non-filers of the 5,000 cards.
Earlier on May 7, the telecom industry wrote a letter to the Ministry of IT & Telecom and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stating that they are mandated to provide uninterrupted services to their customers, except in circumstances specified in the Telecom Act and relevant regulations.
