KARACHI: An appellate bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear applications for urgent hearing in three identical Civil Leave to Appeal Petitions on Nov 14 filed by importers of raw cotton cloth commonly known as “Grey Fabric”.
Filing the application, applicant Custom’s Collectorate of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim and another maintains that a division bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) has allowed the petitions filed by the importers of grey fabric. The petitions questioned the confiscation of fabric on ground that it was not of Chinese origin as per declaration but in fact of “Indian origin” and hence falls within prohibitory clause. The customs department maintains in the CPLA that importers/petitioners have filed contempt of court applications and high court has asked the custom authorities to either seek stay from the apex court or release the consignments in dispute.
The apex court admitting the CPLA’s has issued notices to the respondents Now the applicant Pakistan Customs seeks urgent hearing of the appeals or in case of delay stay implementation of orders of the SHC. Dozens of importers including Horizon International sued the Pakistan Customs and case involve major question of importability of goods from destinations barred under the Import Policy Order 2014.