KARACHI: Clarifying its order, a customs appellate bench of High Court of Sindh ordered the petitioner to only secure/ deposit of disputed amount of duty and taxes with the Nazir of the court.
As the petition was taken up, Khalid Rajpar advocate sought time to file comments / objections on behalf of the respondent including Directorate of Intelligence & Investigations, MCC East and Port Muhammad Bin Qasim.
A counsel from renowned law firm Franklin Law Associates sought clarification of the court order, He argued that order dated 18-2-2022 suggest that Petitioner be obliged to deposit disputed amount of dut y and taxes along with adjudged penalty with the Nazir of this court, whereas in case in hand no adjudication has taken place and therefore the order may be wrongly construed and give opportunity to the respondents to adjudge any penalty against the petitioner.
The bench after hearing the sides hled that “unless any penalty is adjudge against the petitioner in the intervening period, the aforementioned order will only compel the petitioner to deposit amount of duties and taxes with the Nazir of this court seeking provisional release of the consignment”.
The bench also ordered continuation of interim order passed earlier while adjourning the further proceedings till March 30. The bench also order that if any adjudication proceedings are initiated against the petitioner, findings of such proceedings may also be submitted to the court before enforcing any adverse action or passing a final order.