ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan has reserved a verdict in response to a Federal Board of Revenue appeal filed against Sindh High Court (SHC) judgement.
The SHC had turned down the decision of Customs, Excise and Sales Tax Appellant Tribunal Karachi Branch by allowing DG Khan Cement Company the imports of dump trucks within the purview of plant and machinery as contemplated in the SRO SRO-484(I)92.
Concluding his arguments before a three-member bench of acting Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh and Justice Faisal Arab on behalf of DG Khan Cement Company in the matter Salman Akram Raja said that industrial plant includes dump trucks.
Challenging the High Court’s verdict before the apex court, the Federal Board of Revenue had urged the apex court to decide two questions of law; whether the learned division bench of the SHC has misinterpreted the exemption notification by defining the off highway dump trucks as of plant and machinery and for setting up new industrial unit and for expansion or balancing, modernisation and replacement thereof and bringing the same within the purview of the said notification; and whether the division bench of the SHC has erred in law by failing to appreciate the overriding fact of the statuary provisions of Customs Act, 1969 for the purposes of levying customs duty and taxes on import of goods particularly referring to Section 18 with first schedule of the Customs Act and classification of the goods.
