KARACHI: M/s Faisalabad Oil Refinery (Pvt) Ltd has approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) and filed a constitutional petition for refund of regulatory duty of Rs49, 436,161 which were collected by Collector of Customs Port Qasim (Imports) under the garb of SRO 1035(1)/2017.
On 17 September 2020, counsel for the petitioner stated that petitioner is engaged in a business of manufacture and sale of edible oil and ghee, for purposes of in house consumption in its factory, the petitioner imported iron and steel remeltable shredded and bundle scrap, iron and steel remeltable auto part scrap under PCT Code 7204.4100.
He informed the court that customs officials have been charging and collecting, regulatory duty on imports made by the petitioner which were paid at the time of clearance of goods by GDs, it is submitted that the petitioner imported 93 consignments during the relevant period from the date of SRO 1035(1)/2017 till such time the finance act, 2018 made effective.
He argued that total charges recovered by the respondents under the impugned SRO 1035(1)/2017 dated Oct 16, 2019 @ 5% during its tenure amounting to Rs49, 436,161 which is liable to be refunded to the petitioner.
Citing secretary Ministry of Finance, chairman FBR, Chief Collector Customs Collectorate and Collector of Customs Port Qasim (Imports) as respondents, petitioner pleaded the court to declare that respondents unlawfully charged and collected the amount of regulatory duty from the petitioner under the impugned SRO 1035(1)/2017 from date of commencement of finance act, 2017 till the date of commencement of finance act, 2018.
He further pleaded the court to declare that insertion of sub-section (2) of section 221A of the customs act, 1969 through the finance act, 2018 , does not cure the defect of competence in section 18 (3) of the customs act, 1969 with retrospective effect and does not validate SRO 1035(1)/2017 in accordance with judicial pronouncements.
