Report: Masood Anwar
The Karachi Metropolitan University (KMU), the only university managed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), has failed to deposit the taxes deducted from its employees’ salaries to the Income Tax Department. Despite monthly deductions, the tax payments remain unsettled.
As a result, the Income Tax Department has issued notices to all KMU employees, warning of serious consequences for failure to remit the tax amount.
Employees are now concerned about how they can pay hundreds of thousands of rupees in a lump sum within a few days. Conversely, no one has provided answers regarding the fate of the tax already deducted from their salaries.
It should be noted that KMU, formerly known as Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC), operates under the administration of KMC. After KMDC upgrade to KMU, Mayor Karachi, Murtaza Wahab assumed the position Pro Vice Chancellor (VC).
This is the first time in KMDC’s history that the KMC, despite deducting employees’ salaries, has failed to deposit the funds into the Income Tax Department and spending the money elsewhere.
According to sources within KMU, Murtaza Wahab has deliberately withheld the university’s funds, forcing the administration to use them for daily operations instead.
The university administration also accuses the Karachi Mayor of neglecting the institution’s financial needs by withholding the monthly grants, which has led the university to its current dire situation.
Sources also revealed to the Karachi Papers that KMU currently owes over Rs.500 million on the account of pension funds, taxes and other liabilities.
To settle these dues, the KMC administration has requested an immediate bailout package of Rs.500 million to both the Mayor of Karachi and the Chief Minister of Sindh, but this request has been ignored by the Mayor Karachi, Murtaza Wahab.
When approached by Karachi Papers for a response regarding the warning notice issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the university employees, the KMU administration expressed helplessness. They stated that they have no recourse but to again request a bailout package from Mayor Wahab.
The administration further emphasized that there is little they can do beyond submitting applications. On the other hand, employees remain anxious about how they can pay the substantial tax amount to FBR.
