The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a judgement saying  that all private universities in the country must pay 15 per cent income tax.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Justice Borhanuddin, passed the order after disposing of an appeal filed by the government seeking 15 per cent income tax from private universities.

Attorney general AM Amin Uddin represented the state, while senior lawyer AF Hasan Arif argued on behalf of the writ petitioner.

"Not the students, but the private university authorities will have to pay 15 per cent income tax. It will not have any impact on learners. The universities will have to pay tax on the earnings after meeting all the expenses," he said.

The Appellate Division on April 6, 2023, upheld a High Court order asking the National Board of Revenue (NBR) not to collect income tax from private universities in the country.

NBR issued a gazette notification on June 28, 2007, imposing the 15 per cent income tax on private universities, to be effective from July 1 of that year.

In another gazette notification on July 1, 2010, the NBR imposed the same 15 per cent income tax on private universities, medical, engineering colleges and ICT institutes.

After that, different universities filed 46 writs challenging the government's decision.