ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has accepted Commerce Ministry’s appeal against the Sindh High Court judgment in the release of imported used vehicles, confiscated by Pakistan Customs.
The Supreme Court’s two-member bench, comprising Justice Dost Muhammad and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, heard the case. Haji Abdul Raziq Khan had imported 590 used vehicles in 2013. Out of total 32 Sprinkle Lorries were confiscated by the Customs Department.
Faisal Siddiqui Advocate, representing the importer, said that they had violated the Supreme Court judgment 2014 on the Import Policy 2013. He, however, argued that there are about 40 cases wherein the Commerce Ministry has condoned the violation of the apex court judgment.
The court said that they have interpreted the Import Policy of Vehicles in 2014, therefore, all the judicial, qausi-judicial and administrative authorities are bound under Article 189 of Constitution to follow the same.
The Ministry of Commerce and Federal Board of Revenue officials told that the vehicles could not be released. They said that under the Import Policy of Vehicles 2013 the vehicle more than five years old could not imported, while those vehicle are 10-year-old. They informed that it had been decided to auction the vehicles, adding, if Haji Raziq is interested then he should participate in the auction process.
The importer’s counsel argued that the ministry would not benefit from the auction, while they were ready to pay 30 per cent custom duty and 17 per cent surcharges.
