LAHORE: The Customs Appellate Tribunal has decided the case of Muhammad Rafiq, a resident of Sahiwal versus Collector of Customs (Appeals), Lahore, Deputy Collector of Customs (Adjudication), Lahore and Superintendent of Intelligence and Investigation (FBR) Lahore.
The Bench-II of the Customs Appellate Tribunal heard the case in which Omer Arshed Hakeem, Member Judicial, said that the evidence from department were not enough to prove that the owner of vehicle was involved in the offense so, impugned order has modified to the extent that the Mazda truck to be released unconditionally to its lawful owner.
According to details, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation-FBR intercepted a truck loaded with Iranian origin tiles. On a query, the driver of the truck introduced himself as Muhammad Rafique, and failed to produce legal documents regarding the goods. The said goods was seized under section 168 (1) of the Customs Act 1969.
After issuing of show cause notice the adjudication authority heard the case and passed an order to release the goods on payment of redemption fine equal to 20 percent of the assessed value of the same on the payment of duties and taxes leviable thereon.
The appellant aggrieved from the order and filed the case in the Customs Appellate Tribunal on the grounds that the order passed in mechanical fashion, imposition of redemption fine is illegal, the appellant loaded tiles from truck adda and was not responsible for import documents.
On the other side, the representative of the department appear before the court and denied all allegations.
After hearing the arguments from both sides the Customs Appellate Tribunal modified the order and issue order to release confiscated truck to its lawful owner unconditionally.
