LHC hears petition challenging sales tax on sanitary napkins

By Staff Reporter

RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a constitutional petition challenging the sales tax on women’s sanitary napkins, with the petitioner contending that the levy stigmatises a basic health necessity as a luxury good and deepens gender inequality.

Justice Jawad Hassan of the court’s Rawalpindi Bench took up the case filed by Mahnoor Omer, who is seeking a full exemption from sales tax on sanitary pads and associated products. The bench approved the petitioner’s request to implead the federal Revenue Division through its secretary as a respondent, on grounds that the existing tax framework amounts to indirect discrimination against women and infringes on fundamental rights to equality and dignity enshrined in Articles 3, 9, 14, 25 and 37 of the constitution.

Advocate Ahsan Jehangir Khan, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that just 12 percent of menstruating women in Pakistan can afford commercially available sanitary pads, compelling the overwhelming majority to turn to unhygienic and hazardous substitutes.

He pointed out that domestically produced sanitary items attract an 18-percent sales tax, while imported variants incur a 25-percent customs duty in addition to sales tax. Even a vital input like superabsorbent polymer (SAP) paper faces a 25-percent levy. “By taxing sanitary products, the state is penalising women for a natural biological function,” the counsel argued.

The bench, however, raised questions over the petition’s maintainability in view of the 26th Constitutional Amendment and flagged potential jurisdictional issues, given that key respondents including the Revenue Division are headquartered in Islamabad.

Khan sought additional time to rebut these preliminary objections. Representing the federal and provincial authorities respectively were Barrister Zain Mansoor, the Assistant Attorney General, and Barrister Raja Hashim Javed, the Assistant Advocate General.

In its orders, the court directed the federal government and other respondents to file their replies within two weeks. Separately, under Order XXVII-A of the Civil Procedure Code, a notice was dispatched to the Attorney General for Pakistan to address the substantive constitutional issues at stake. The hearing stands adjourned until the petitioner clarifies the maintainability concerns flagged by the bench.