By Sohail Rab Khan
KARACHI: The Model Custom Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement has suffered a loss of Rs300 million in its revenue recovery on the last day of the fiscal year 2012-13, due to the power failure in the Custom House on Sunday.
According to details, the electricity of the Custom House failed at around 1.00pm in afternoon and was not restored till midnight, suffering the loss of millions of rupees at the end of the fiscal year 2012-13.
However, the Appraisement Collectorate made alternate arrangements for the electricity by 9:00pm but it was very late for many taxpayers to process their trade documents for clearance.
The revenue body that was quite desperate to increase its collection to impress the newly-elected government had introduced several measures to achieve the target.
Sources in the Customs Department told Customs Today that it was a technical fault and nothing else, but the department had managed to go for an alternative option.
They said that several goods declarations were failed to get processed before stipulated time. Meanwhile, a large number of taxpayers seeking amnesty of waiver from default surcharge, fine and penalty were also deprived due to power failure.
It is pertinent to mention here that the power failure in the Custom House Karachi was also witnessed on June 27 and the officials concerned were of the view that it was a technical fault, as one of three electricity phases was not working on that day and the visitors had to suffer mental as well as revenue loss.
