ISLAMABAD: While seeking information under the Right of Access to Information Act 2017, an information seeker claim that inordinate delays in the issuance of judicial orders at the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR), Islamabad, have created severe distress for taxpayers, raising critical questions regarding institutional efficiency and due process.
Filing application under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, a Gujranwala-based town developer company approached ATIR Islamabad claimed saying after discovering an unexplained discrepancy on the tribunal’s official case-tracking portal – it has no option but to seek information to ascertain the reason behind inconsistency in the matter.
Aujla & Associates Town Developers (Pvt) Ltd has approached the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR) in Islamabad with a formal application under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, after discovering an unexplained discrepancy on the tribunal’s official case-tracking portal.
According to a letter dated 30 July 2026 addressed to the ATIR Registrar, the company’s tax appeal (ITA No. 1064/IB/2024) was heard by the tribunal’s Bench-III on 9 August 2024, but no final order was issued in the nearly two years since. On checking the tribunal’s online portal on 29 July 2026, the appellant found the case status marked “Heard,” with an entry reading “Date of Order: 12-09-2025,” attributed to Accountant Member Nasir Iqbal.
The company says this entry cannot be reconciled with its own records. It states that no notice of any further hearing was issued after August 2024, no order or judgment dated September 2025 was ever dispatched or served, and an earlier letter it sent in February 2026 – flagging the delay – went unanswered without any correction to the online record.
In its application, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Azhar Shafiq Manj, submits claiming that only two possibilities exist: either an order was passed in September 2025 but never communicated, which would raise serious natural-justice concerns and affect the limitation period for further appeal, or the website entry is simply erroneous and needs urgent correction to avoid misleading third parties into believing the case is already decided.
Beyond seeking clarification on the specific appeal, the RTI request also asks the tribunal to disclose statistical data – the total number of cases assigned to and decided by Accountant Member Nasir Iqbal since his appointment in August 2023 through July 2026, including a bench-wise breakup. The applicant has clarified it is not seeking details of any taxpayer’s identity, only aggregate figures, and argues such anonymized data is not covered by any privacy exemption under the RTI Act.
The letter seeks a written response within ten days, as prescribed under the RTI Act, 2017, including confirmation of whether an order was actually passed, a certified copy if one exists, correction of the record if it was passed in error, and an assurance that any limitation period will run only from the date an order is actually served – not from a date recorded internally on the portal.
