KARACHI: An appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed on Tuesday ordered issuance of notices to the Collector Customs (Appraisement), West and Director, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigations for Feb 15 in a Special Customs Reference Application (SCRA) challenging imposition of penalty.
Khurram and Co, Custom Agent filed the SCRA (SCRA 20/2017) through Ghulam ullah Sheikh advocate of Franklin Law Associates maintaining that they were not charged of abetting in depriving the national exchequer of amount payable in Custom duty and other taxes.
According to petitioner, two containers of Electrolytic Copper Rod, 8mm were imported from China and the GD was filed under PCT Heading 7407.1020 and clearance of the goods was sought under section 79 of the Customs Act 1969 for determination of the tax liability under self assessment scheme. The consignment was selected for the scrutiny and examining officers reported that the import manifest and other documents were not found inside the containers. The case was referred for adjudication. A show cause notice was issued on ground that the imported goods were of different PCT Heading involving 100 percent difference of rate of custom duty. The Custom authorities then imposed a penalty of rupees 200000 upon the petitioner/clearing agent which was challenged through instant SCRA.
The same petitioner in second SCRA (21/2017) challenged the identical amount of fine.
The bench after hearing initial arguments ordered issuance of notices to the respondent Custom officials for Feb 15.