KARACHI: An appellate bench of High Court of Sindh comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Muhammad Humayun Khan Tuesday issued notice to respondent custom officials in a contempt of court application filed by Horizon Enterprises which imported fabric from China.

The bench while hearing an application for urgent hearing and contempt plea filed by Ghulam ullah Sheikh advocate of Franklin Law Associates appearing for the applicant/petitioner ordered issuance of notices for Dec 22.

The counsel for applicant/petitioner submitted that despite order of the court directing the Custom authorities of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim to release the consignments, consignments are still detained.

The non-implementation of order of this court is contempt, he submitted adding that order was not challenged before the next higher forum nor any interim order from higher forum is available.

The consignments were detained by the Custom authorities on allegation of being Indian origin. According to respondents/ alleged contemnors.

The bench on a previous hearing asked the Collector Customs to satisfy the court about the reason for holding consignments of fabric on ground that it was of Indian origin as no factory in China produces the fabric in question. As the court was not satisfied with the reason for detaining the consignment, the court on Dec 07 ordered custom authorities to release of the same without any delay.

Ghulam Hyder Sheikh advocate of Franklin Law Associates representing the petitioners submitted that the original certificates of origin have been submitted to the custom authorities who have conducted the verification. He contended that during re-examination it was established that the cloth imported is of China origin. It was also contended that under the garb of guideline, double custom duty and taxes are being recovered from the importers. This practice would render the Valuation Ruling and Section 25-A of the Customs Act 1969 as a rudiment, submitted Ghulam Hyder Sheikh.