KARACHI: The hearing of ten Special Customs References and petition in toilet soap valuation cases was adjourned till March 03 by an appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhatti here Tuesday.
The SCRA’s challenge the order of the Special Customs Tribunal, which allowed the appeals by the respondents/importers of toilet soap from different countries of origin. The tribunal allowing the appeals held that Director Valuation did not applied the methods for determination of value in sequence envisaged under section 25 D of the Customs Act 1969.
The importers questioned the Valuation Ruling 702 of 2012 under which Customs Valuation determined the custom duty of soap at a rate of US $ 700-750 against a former rate of US $ 350-450 US $ per metric ton.
The petitioners/importers challenged the said VR 702/2012 before the customs authorities and later before the tribunal.
Today when the SCRA’s were taken up, a representative for All Pakistan Soap Manufacturer Association appeared before the bench and said that their counsel Mohabbat Hussain Awan has gone to Lahore and association want to assist the court about the dispute. The Association representative submitted that they support the VR 702/2012, as it is protective to the local soap industry. Although the applicants as well as respondents/importers’ counsel including Masooda Siraj, Khalid Javed advocates were ready to proceed with the case, the bench however accepting the plea of the soap manufacturers adjourned further hearing until March 03