KARACHI: A divisional bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Anwar Hussain on Wednesday reserve orders in a constitutional petition challenging the detention of a consignment of fabric alleged to be of Indian origin.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the goods have been detained by the Pakistan Customs despite advance payment of Custom Duty and other taxes. He cited a number of judgments and said in such a case, Customs is bound to release the goods. He informed the bench that goods are lying at the port since one and a half month. A FIR has also been registered in the case. The detention is based on surmises and presumption that goods are of Indian origin where as the petitioner has submitted the certificate of origin with other documents as required, the counsel submitted seeking release of the goods.
Ilyas Ahsan, counsel for Pakistan Customs said that it has been established that the consignment was imported from Dubai and whether it is of Indian origin or not is still “a gray area”. What will happen to the consignment ultimately, he bench inquired. It will be sold in the end through auction, the bench observed.
The counsel for petitioner offered that he is ready to pay even the fine, penalty or additional tax if goods are released.
The counsel for Customs said that charge of mis-declaration has been proved in this case as the container could not be tracked to have shipped from China as per tracking record. The importers use to manipulate the origin as items from China carries less rate of custom duty and taxes (under FTA). The counsel for petitioner pressing for release said that lab text could not establish the origin and only textile association could be of help in determining the origin.
As the custom counsel opposed the release, the bench reserved the order to be announced during course of the day.