Zero tolerance policy against corruption and informal payments reduce clearance time and cost of doing business: Muhammad Jamil Nasir
LAHORE: The Collectorate of Customs Appraisement surpassed the monthly revenue target for November, 2017 by collecting Rs 3,334 million under the head of customs duty which is 47 percent higher than the collection made during November 2016. Zero tolerance policy has been adopted against corruption and informal payments that reduced clearance of imported goods time and cost of doing business.
These views were expressed by Collector of Customs Jamil Nasir while talking to Customs Today here the other day. Muhammad Jamil Nasir is known as one of the most competent, honest upright and outstanding officers of the Pakistan Customs Service.
The collector said that Model Collectorate of Appraisement, Lahore surpassed the monthly revenue target for November, 2017 by collecting Rs 3,334 million under the head of customs duty which is 47 Genghis Khan higher than the collection made during November 2016.
“This trend is constant for the last many months and the curve for revenue growth is consistently going upward,” he said adding that a lot of credit for this achievement goes to a dedicated team effort of the officials. In order to reduce interaction between Collectorate officials and the taxpayers, it has been ensured that each and every Bank Guarantee should be audited at all three ports, besides all long pending consignments have been auctioned and a Post Release Verification (PRV) Cell is created to discover after clearance discrepancies.
Every goods declaration, including those GDs cleared through ‘Green Channel’, is being scrutinized. The Collectorate has so far been able to scrutinize over 5,000 GDs, the collector mentioned, adding that transparency and easy accessibility has also been ensured by adopting open door policy at the Collectorate.
“Anybody can see any time any senior officer including Collector without appointment. “Mechanism for complaint redressal has been devised and put in place. Monitoring of letters/ correspondence received from stakeholders is being duly done and it is ensured that the stakeholders be given timely responses,” the Collector highlighted.
Nasir also shared that optimum utilization of available resources is being made possible and the Collectorate has placed newly recruited appraisers and inspectors in appraisement and examination halls increasing their confidence level.
“Right person for the right job is being placed and postings strictly. On merit basis after over viewing the integrity, skills and conduct of the official are the major considerations. Capacity building is also an ongoing phenomenon through which the newly recruited customs officials are provided level playing failed to sharpen their skills,” he added.
Talking about IT interventions, Nasir said that a central control of ports is maintained through CCTV cameras by the collector office which has ensured check and balance on each and every official. WeBOC registration center has also been re-organized at NLC Dry Port and from now onward the importers can also register their companies at NLC Dry Port, he maintained.
Sharing about the future planning, the collector informed that the Collectorate is all set to launch application with name Feedback and Suggestion Tool (FAST) for feedback and direct outreach to importers and manufacturers.
