Dharshini Sharma

On the court record

Dharshini Sharma appears in the corpus in revenue and customs litigation, argued at the highest level in the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan) as well as at first instance in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi). Two Federal Court matters concern the strict construction of sales-tax exemptions. In one, appearing for the appellant, the dispute turned on the interpretation of the Sales Tax (Persons Exempted From Payment of Tax) Order 2018, and in particular the distinction between traders and manufacturers under Items 53 and 57 of Schedule A, the role of internal customs policies and the legitimate-expectation doctrine, the procedural requirements for claiming exemption, and the effect of value-added processes on the tax treatment — all against the tax authority, the Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia (the Director General of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department). In a second Federal Court matter, appearing for the respondent, the questions again concerned the strict and narrow interpretation of a tax exemption for a registered manufacturer, the single-stage tax principle, the distinction between statutory orders and ministerial letters, and the non-retroactivity of legislative amendments. A third matter, in the High Court and appearing for the applicant, sought leave under Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012 to commence judicial review against the Ketua Pengarah Hasil Dalam Negeri (Director General of Inland Revenue), and raised the threshold question of whether a letter from the applicant looking forward to a favourable reply by a certain date amounted to a decision amenable to judicial review at all. A theme common to all three is the interpretive posture the courts adopt towards fiscal relief: exemptions are read strictly and narrowly, ministerial letters and internal policies are weighed against the authority of statutory orders, and the doctrine of legitimate expectation is tested against the requirement of clear statutory entitlement — while the judicial-review matter marks the outer edge of that supervision, asking whether there is even a reviewable decision to begin with. The profile is that of a specialist in indirect and direct tax disputes, engaged with the construction of exemption orders and the availability of judicial review against the revenue authorities.