The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is exempt from cantonment property tax for periods before a 2023 amendment to the Cantonments Act, 1924.
A division bench comprising Justice Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom and Justice Khalid Ishaq allowed a petition filed by LUMS and the National Management Foundation, the non-profit society that established the university.
The bench declared the disputed 2011 and 2017 orders void, ruling that property tax demands for periods before the amendment could not be recovered.
The dispute centered on Section 99(2)(b), which provided exemptions for educational buildings. LUMS argued that conditions concerning public access and the absence of income did not apply to educational institutions under the provision’s earlier wording.
Justice Ishaq, who authored the judgment, held that the 2023 amendment introduced a substantive change that could not be applied retrospectively.
The court also ruled that charging tuition fees or retaining a surplus does not, by itself, establish a commercial purpose, provided funds are not distributed to promoters, trustees, or those controlling the institution.
However, the ruling does not automatically exempt LUMS for periods after the amendment. The Cantonment Board must assess exemption eligibility through a reasoned order examining each building’s use, income, and public-access status rather than relying solely on tuition fees.
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