KARACHI: M/s Awan Trading Company Private Limited has approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) for seeking bank guarantees amount which were deposited by the petitioner on provisional release of its consignments.
On 3 February 2020, counsel for the petitioner stated that in May 2018 M/s Nishat Mills Ltd imported a consignment of 54,960 MT of coal, the said consignment was rejected by the importer for not being up to the quality standards.
Since the respondent was pressing for recovery of the disputed demand, the petitioner filed petition and obtained interim orders restraining the respondent from immediate encashment of the bank guarantees.
He argued that during the pendency of the appeals, the petitioner filed further three GDs for the release of remaining 40,000 MT of coal at the transaction value, for release thereof, the petitioner filed three petitions which were disposed of and respondent was directed to release the consignment after securing the disputed amount.
Counsel said that subsequently, the collector appeals decided the appeals in favor of the petitioner and held that the correct value of the goods is the declared transaction value of the petitioner and pursuant to the aforesaid decision, the bank guarantees furnished by the petitioner in respect of the earlier two GDs were released by the customs department.
Citing the Collector of Customs Port Muhammad Bin Qasim as respondent, petitioner pleaded the court to direct respondent to issue a writ of mandamus and release the bank guarantees of the petitioner pursuant to the decision of the collector appeal.