KARACHI: The in-ordinate delays in judicial system came to the fore when a Custom Appellate bench on High Court of Sindh issued notice of proposed questions of law in a Special Customs Reference Application (SCRA) No 357 of 2018 filed by Collectorate of Customs (Appraisement) West and connected Constitutional Petition (CP) filed by Al-Karam Traders, Lahore.
The bench, today earlier an application for urgent hearing filed by Sardar Zafar Hussain Advocate representing Customs West Collectorate. The counsel justifying the urgency submitted that Federal Tax Ombudsman has passed an order for refund of amount deposited by the importer. He said that when SCRA is pending before the SHC, jurisdiction of FTO is excluded yet an order is passed.
The bench ordered issuance of notice of the proposed questions of law. The bench also sought an explanation that when importer has filed a petition before SHC how he moved the FTO.
The SCRA as well as constitutional petition will be heard on a date to be fixed by the office of the court. The bench till next hearing suspended the operation of order of the Custom Appellate Tribunal dated 15.4.2017.