The High Court has issued a ruling questioning why disciplinary action should not be taken against Abu Hena Mohammad Rahmatul Muneem, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), for contempt of court.

The ruling, passed on Tuesday by a High Court division bench comprising Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Razik-al Jalil, follows Muneem’s failure to comply with a previous court directive.

In November 2020, the High Court directed the NBR to collect taxes and VAT from social media platforms in accordance with Bangladeshi law. Despite this, Muneem did not submit the required progress report.

On May 19, Supreme Court lawyers Barrister Humayun Kabir (Pallab) and Barrister Md Kausar, on behalf of Law and Life Foundation Trust, sent a legal notice to the NBR Chairman, urging compliance with the court order. The notice warned that if the instructions were not followed within 10 days, a contempt of court case would be filed.

When Muneem remained unresponsive and took no action, a contempt of court case was filed against him on June 5. The High Court now seeks to understand why he failed to comply with its directives.