KARACHI: The Member Customs-FBR Nisar Muhammad Ali Khan has not yet replied to the letter written by the officials up to grade-16 pertaining to the miserable working scenario of Research and Development (R&D) Section of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement (East).
The sources confirmed Customs Today that the Member Customs-FBR after passing a time period of more than a month has not yet replied to the letter written by officials seeking prompt attention towards the dejected working of R&D Section of MCC-Appraisement (East).
It is pertinent to mention here that the staffers up to Grade-16 had written a letter to Member Customs Nisar Muhammad Ali Khan in start of January-2015 in which they highlighted the misuse of power by the top bureaucracy of the Collectorate and demanded proper inquiry through a committee.
In the letter, the officials up to Grade-16 were of the view that the Research and Development (R&D) Section of MCC-Appraisement (East) was at its verge of collapse, as the authorities concerned of the Collectorate have put an extra burden on the limited workforce of the R&D Section.
The sources informed Customs Today that the authorities concerned of MCC-Appraisement (East) through a planned way have distributed extra workload among the appraisers and examiners, so that they cannot manage to scrutinize the data of imported consignments in order to detect mis-declaration and under-invoicing of the importers.
The sources further said that the ongoing exercise of the authorities concerned will certainly affect on the working of R&D section, as the officials have no time to spare in detecting tax evasion cases.
“Following the said step taken by the authorities concerned of the Collectorate, the R&D Section has not yet manage to make any significant case against the unscrupulous elements in connection with tax evasion and mis-declaration in the recent days”, they added.
It is pertinent to mention here that there was a major decline in recovery of R&D Section of MCC-Appraisement in terms of duty/taxes evaded amount in the month of December-2014 and Jnauary-2015, as the R&D Section has also managed to recover around Rs10 to 15million in the month of December-2014 and January-2015 respectively while it had recovered an estimated amount of Rs20 million to 25 million in the previous months i.e. November, October and September-2014.
The significant decline in detecting the tax evasion cases by R&D Section has clearly exposed the intentions of the authorities concerned of the Collectorate.
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