KARACHI: Sindh High Court has heard a number of petitions filed by importers of grey fabric (polyester, unfinished, un-dyed) against non-release of their consignments.
A SHC appellate bench, comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan, heard these petitions filed by importers whose consignments were confiscated for being Indian manufactured and thus felling into banned item list under import policy.
Shafqat Chohan told the bench that his case was remanded back by the Supreme Court. Assisted by Ghulam Hyder Shaikh advocate, he said that after filing of goods declaration (GD), the consignments were physically examined by the official concerned of Pakistan Customs and reports were prepare in which it was mentioned that bales of cloth contained marking of China.
The goods were however not released after which importer/petitioner filed a constitution petition on 4-11-2016 seeking a stay order.
The respondent officials issued a show cause notice under section 46 of the Customs Act 1969 in respect of 5 consignments while there were 33 GDs in all and no show cause was issued till date in respect of remaining 28 consignments, submitted the counsel. The show cause was issued after SHC issued notice of the petition, he added.
He contended that Certificate of Origin was submitted with the authorities who got it confirmed “online” but later notice under section 26 were issued requiring of the importers/petitioners to prove that consignments are not from origin which is banned under the import policy. A letter of confirmation from UAE authorities regarding details of manufacture was also provided to the Customs authorities on demand, submitted Shafqat.
The counsel was then asked to read out the contents of a public notice issued by the department regarding ban on grey fabric from India in order to protect the Pakistan’s local industry.
The counsel referred to the various sections of Customs Act including section 16 pertaining to “Rules of Origin” and said petitioners/importers provided all documents except “Master Bill of Landing” of UAE Importer as it was not in their possession.
To a question by Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan, the counsel said that China has a different set of rules and commercial laws and Chinese authorities normally do not disclose the name of manufacturer.
He then referred to para wise comments filed by department and said only word “suspected” was used and no other allegation or evidence was adduced by the Customs officials. It was merely a ‘fishing’ inquiry, he submitted.
The bench later adjourned further hearing till today (Friday). Rasheed A Razvi, Adnan Motan and others are appearing for the petitioners while official respondents were represented by Assistant Collector Dr Muhammad Ahmed Malik, Principal Appraiser Tariq Aziz, Ilyas Khan, Principal Appraiser Law, Masooda Siraj and Kashiq Nazeer while MCC East remained un-represented.
