KARACHI: A division bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan on Friday deferred hearing of a constitution petition filed by Reliance Petrochem Industries Private Limited till Dec21 as petitioner agreed to pay disputed amount of levies.

The petition imported 1493611 metric tons of Methyl Acetate from China and declared a import value of US $ 280 per metric ton. The custom arthritis sent a sample to the HEJ laboratories for test which confirmed that it was pure Methyl Acetate (99.89 per cent). In the mean while Collector Custom received a letter from Insaf Chemical offering to purchase the consignment at a rate of US $ 480 per metric ton, US $ 200 more than the value declared by the importer. The consignment was held at which the petitioner moved the SHC.

Today, Masooda Siraj advocate assisted by Sardar Zafar Hussain advocate appearing for the Customs department submitted the data pertaining to identical goods and said that it was a case of under-invoicing. She agreed to the offer of payment of rupees 15,296,070 by the counsel for petition as additional duty.

The bench however allowing time to the parties to settle the controversy deferred further proceedings till Dec 21 when it said will decide the petition.