KARACHI:A division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) restrained customs authorities from taking any action against M/s Yunus Textile Mills Limited for recovery of anti-dumping duties.
On 6 November 2020 , during the hearing, Hussain Ali Almani advocate appeared on behalf of the petitioner and argued that petitioner has challenged amendment in anti-dumping duties act, 2015 through finance act, 2019, counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has been issued a license under the Export Oriented and Small & Medium Enterprises Rules 2008 and is exempted from all sorts of duties and taxes for purposes of export, including in respect of anti-dumping duties in terms of section 51(I)(e) of the anti-dumping duties act, 2015.
He further argued that the amendment carried out through finance act, 2019 whereby, clause (e) of section 51 (I) of the anti-dumping duties act, 2015 has been deleted by an amended through a finance bill is ultra vires to the constitution and the judgments of the superior courts whereby, it has been held that anti-dumping duty is not a tax and therefore, could not be amended and or levied through a money bill.
He further stated that through this application the petitioner seeks a restraining order in respect of show cause notice dated Oct 29, 2020 (pg 277) whereby, a demand has been raised in respect of goods already cleared, according to him in the case of another petitioner restraining orders have already been passed.
After the hearing, court observes that “let notice be issued to the respondents as well as DAG for Nov 10, till then the respondents are restrained from acting any further pursuant to the above impugned show cause notice, through this application the petitioner seeks release of the consignments covered by this petition pending final adjudication of the matter, not as above.