LAHORE: The Customs Appellate Tribunal has rejected a case filed by Ejaz Textile Mills against Collector of Customs (Adjudication) and Assistant Collector of Customs Lahore.
Member Technical Imran Tariq heard the case and said in his final remarks that there is no merit in the appeal and, therefore, it is not accepted and dismissed with no order. The penalty of Rs 50,000 imposed on the appellant and his clearing agent SK Enterprises is waived off.
According to the details, Ejaz Textile Mills imported consignment of Indian raw cotton and sought clearing through SK Enterprises and claimed the benefits of sales tax SRO 1125 (I)/2011 date 31st December 2011 for the payment of sales tax @ 2 percent instead of 16 percent.
During the course of audit, the customs authorities observed that above said consignment had to be liable for the payment of 16 percent along with the income tax whereas the importer has wrongly claimed the benefits of sales tax SRO 1125(I)/2011. Authorities ordered to pay Rs31,14,048 under the head of sales tax and Rs1,55,702 as income tax along with default surcharge.
The appellant M/s Ejaz Textile Mills aggrieved from the order passed by the Collector of Customs (Adjudication) Lahore and filed case before the Customs Appellate Tribunal on the grounds that the Order in Original (ONO) is bad in law and beyond jurisdiction, the collector customs (Adjudication) is not authority to adjudicate the liabilities under the sales tax ordinance 2011 and some others.
On the other side Amna Parveen advocates appeared before the court and defended impugned order, she argued that adjudication authority has fully empowered to hear the case and pass order according to the law.
After hearing the arguments from both sides Customs Appellate Tribunal dismissed the case with order that respondent department should recover the default amount of tax with default surcharge under the sales tax Act 1990 and Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
