KARACHI: Justice Zafar Rajput of High Court of Sindh on Tuesday ordered a plaintiff Ghulam Sarwar to first deposit fifty per cent of disputed amount of duty and taxes with the Nazir of the court and remaining 50 per cent with Pakistan Customs to make the suit maintainable as per decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

As the suit filed by the petitioner seeking a direction to the customs to allow benefit of SRO 1125 n an imported consignment came up for hearing, Khalid Rajpar advocate appearing for the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), West submitted that plaintiff is a commercial importer and hence imported consignment is liable to customs duty and taxes at a rate of 9 per cent.

Raising a technical issue, counsel for MCC West submitted that suit could not be proceeded with unless the plaintiff deposit 50 per cent of the disputed amount as per judgment by apex court aimed at curtailing the number of frivolous litigations.

The single judge after hearing the sides adjourned the hearing directing the plaintiff to first deposit the 50 per cent mandatory amount.