KARACHI: An appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) dismissed a constitutional petition filed by AMIA Energy which imported 54,700 Metric tones of coal for Hub Power Plant questioning non entertaining of Goods Declaration unless these are supported by Electronic Information (EIF) or Financial Instrument (FI) issued by a bank.

The petitioner company sought indulgence of court for release of its consignment which is stuck up at the  Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) and incurring demurrage and detention charges and accumulated loss as calculated by the petitioner was over Rupees one billion.

The counsel for the petitioner company maintained that Customs Act 1969 is a special law and it does not require filing of EIF or FI as a condition precedent for the purpose of clearance of goods, therefore non entertaining GDs of the petitioner amount to mala fide and beyond lawful authority. The counsel further argued that coal do not fall in prohibitory list.

The bench heard all the parties including competitor coal importing companies as well as regulator i.e State Bank of Pakistan. Upon perusal of record the bench also found that M/s Glonvore International FZE, UAE is owned by wife of one of the petitioners namely Kashif Aslam, thus transaction is a suspicious one, the supplier company has no history of previous business. The bench held that petitioner do not came to the court with clean hands.

The bench further ruled that petitioner’s claim for waiver of the EIF requirement has no basis in law and that petitioner has not identified any legal right as to why the waiver shall be given. The bench further held that the matter involves serious disputed questions of facts which cannot be determined while proceedings under Article 199 of Constitution of Pakistan.