KARACHI: In the absence of a clear date of clearance of goods, the applicability of a Valuation Ruling would be far-fetched. This was held by a Customs Appellate bench of High Court of Sindh while hearing a Special Customs Reference Application filed in 20215 by the Collector of Customs against Ms Shazia Imam.
The bench held that SCRA 1233 of 2015 is pending since long and applicant department has not been able to satisfy the court on two questions framed by the court which include that whether the Custom Appellate Tribunal lawfully condoned the delay of 395 days in filing of the appeal and that whether it was not lawful to apply the Valuation Ruling for the clearance of goods being beyond 90 days pre/post import.
The controversy pertain to alleged case of short levy of customs duty and other taxes on account of a Valuation Ruling which was subsequently reviewed by the competent authority under section 25 (d) of the Customs Act 1969. The court during find it from the record that against assessment order no appeal was preferred under the provisions of the Customs Act 1969 rendering the proceedings under the garb of Valuation Ruling as not sustainable.
The bench further said that Valuation Ruling is not applicable if it is not issued on the basis of data of 90 days, either before or after import in terms of Rule 107 (A) of the Custom Rules 2001. The bench further noted that in instant case, the dates of clearance of goods are not available and in such an eventuality, the applicability of a VR is “farfetched”.
The bench in view of above dismissed the SCRA filed by the customs department.