KARACHI: The hearing of five identical petitions including one by Dany Technologies against refusal to provisional release of imported items was adjourned till Oct 22 by a division bench of High Court of Sindh as Chief Collector South, Pakistan Customs appeared before the court on notice and reported implementation of orders of the court.
As the petitions were taken up, Ms Suriya Ahmed Butt, Chief Collector South, Jamil Nasir, Collector A Facilitation (West) Ahmed Jawwad, Collector Port Muhammad Bin Qasim and other officers appeared before the court on notice along with Sohail Muzzafar and Khalil Dogar advocates.
The Chief Collector South at the outset submitted that pursuant to court notices and passing of orders, officers concerned of Pakistan Customs were directed to pass appropriate orders on applications seeking provisional release of consignments under section 81 of the Customs Act 1969 in accordance with law and keeping in view the statutory provisions.
The court was informed that for universal, uniform application of law, Chief Collector will seek instructions from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). She assured that court of officially requesting the FBR to wither issue a Circular or Office Memorandum in this regard to all collectorates or she herself will issue a circular or memorandum to ensure that field officers shall comply with statutory provisions of law and orders passed by the courts.
She also informed the bench that in most of these petitions, compliance has been made and consignments have been release provisionally. The counsel for petitioners confirmed such position.
Assistant Attorney General Aminullah Siddiqui informed the bench that the copy of the order has been communicated to the Chairman FBR who has taken the cognizance and some developments are likely in near future. He also sought adjournment for such steps by the FBR.
The bench in view of statements by the Chief Collector South and AAG adjourned further proceedings till Oct 22. The bench exempted the officers from personal appearance and said it expects that needful would be done.