KARACHI: A customs appellate bench of High Court of Sindh dismissed a petition filed by Messers Ashfaq Brothers challenging a Notice for payment of short levied amount of duty and taxes with further direction to appear for a hearing.
The counsel for the petitioner earlier submitted that notice was in fact is a “Demand Notice” through which respondents without proper adjudication and determining amount raised the remand.
The counsel further submitted that no Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued and no order was passed and in such circumstances no demand notice could be issued hence the impugned notice is without lawful authority or jurisdiction.
The counsel for Pakistan Customs supported the impugned notice and pointed out that the petitioner was provided with an opportunity of hearing.
The bench perused the notice which said that an amount of Rupees 1800723 was short levied due to misclassification of Swan and Robinson brand Gasoline Engines.
The bench held that instead of words used it is issued in terms of section 32 (3) of the Customs Act 1969 and it fulfills the requirement of a SCN and was well within the specified period of three years.
The bench comprising Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar and Justice Agha Faisal with the above observations dismissed the petition.