KARACHI: A bench of Supreme Court comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed allowed a Leave to Appeal filed by Pakistan Customs against BYCO Petroleum Pakistan Limited pertaining to tug boats imported by the respondent company.
The case pertains to levy of taxes on three tugs imported by the respondent. The customs demanded payment of duty and taxes worth rupees 273.588 million while the BYCO claimed exemption on ground that import was temporary for a period of three years after which same were to be re-exported. The customs lost the cases at all forums below including Customs Appellate Tribunal.
The High Court of Balochistan also ruled in favor of the respondent company and ordered customs to release the tug boat detained at Gwadar port while two were already taken away.
Raja Muhammad Iqbal, Senior Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan appearing for the Collector Customs Yaqoob Mako filed the leave to appeal. He contended that tug boats are different kind of ship and cannot be classified as drilling or seismic vessels.
The respondent has used the tug for its commercial activities and earned sizeable amounts as profit without paying a single penny to the national exchequer. The case involves a sum of rupees 273.588 million in duty and taxes as no exemption is admissible in the instant case, contended Raja Muhammad Iqbal Advocate.
The apex court bench after a detailed hearing allowed the appeal filed by the Pakistan Customs.