KARACHI:- A division bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) on Tuesday disposed of two identical constitution petition filed by MF and Company and Imperial Furnishers who imported Textile Fabric from China.

The importers filed the Goods Declaration (GD) and sought assessment under PCT Code 6001-9290 but Customs valued the goods under Valuation Ruling 765/2015 dated 9-11-2015 at which the petitioners moved the court while also filing review applications before the Director General Valuation Ruling.

Today when the petitions came up for hearing, the counsel for petitioners sought provisional relief and release of goods against payment of differential amount. They maintained that Custom authorities are bound to assess the consignment at “transactional value” and not under the impugned Valuation Ruling. Masooda Siraj advocate, assisted by Zafar Hussain advocate opposed the request and maintained that unless review applications are decided, petitioner is not entitled to any relief.

The bench after hearing the sides disposed of the petitions directing the petitioners to approach the reviewing/appellate authority first and if aggrieved then they are free to seek remedy available under the relevant laws.

It is worth mentioning here that Custom authorities have reviewed the Valuation ruling in respect of fabric including sofa and curtain cloth bringing them at par with velvet to avoid abuse of concession. Likewise, the custom duty on Textile Fabric was also revised upward in view of international market prices.