Supreme Court Squashes Injunction Application Against E-levy
The Supreme Court has denied an interlocutory injunction sought by three minority MPs to prevent the electronic transfer levy from taking effect (E-Levy).
A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that if the E-Levy is put on hold and the substantive case challenging its constitutionality fails, irreparable harm will be done to the public.
The court relied on section 37 of the Evidence Act to note that official acts are presumed to have been regularly performed.
“We are therefore enjoined by law pending the determination of the substantive matter to presume the regularity of the Act passed by Parliament.
Applicants submit in Paragraph 19 of their statement of the case that irreparable damage will be done. It is not clear how they came to this conclusion and can only concede that it was just a conjuncture. “
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has the ability to repay the E-Levy previously paid back to the public, according to the court, if the substantive suit was successful.
However, it stated that if the E-Levy is put on hold and the substantive case loses, the government will suffer irreparable harm because it will be unable to reclaim the money already lost.
The court did, however, compel the GRA to preserve records of the levy collected thus far so that, if the substantive lawsuit is successful, the money might be refunded to the public.
