The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other respondents on a petition challenging the sales tax on women’s sanitary napkins.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry also put the attorney general on notice for a date to be fixed after two weeks.
Alisha Shabbir, a resident of Karachi, moved the SHC against what it commonly called the ‘period tax’, citing the FBR, Ministry of Law & Justice, Excise & Taxation Department of Sindh, provincial health secretary and others as respondents.
Her counsel submitted that around 40 per cent of the retail price of a sanitary napkin in the country came from government taxes and duties on raw materials instead of the actual cost of production.
The lawyer stated that such a heavy tax burden has made the hygiene products unaffordable for millions of women and girls, despite their being a hygiene necessity.
He argued that sanitary napkins must be classified as essential items just like other necessities of life and, accordingly, included in the Sixth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, to exempt them from sales tax and that their raw materials may also be placed under the Eighth Schedule so that the benefit could actually reach consumers.
The counsel maintained that the impugned classification and taxation of sanitary napkins as non-essential items, thereby subjecting them to a higher rate of sales tax and also constituted an egregious violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution.
After a preliminary, the bench in its order said, “Issue notice to the respondents and the Attorney General for Pakistan under Order XXVII-A CPC for a date to be fixed by the office after two [02] weeks.”
Originally published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025
