KARACHI: A customs appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Agha Faisal and Justice Shah Nawaz Memon disposed of a Special Customs Reference Application filed by the Collector of Customs (Enforcement) against an importer Shoaib Khan following judgments by Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The fore most question of law considered by the bench was that “Whether Customs Appellate Tribunal erred in law by not considering that the smuggled goods cannot be allowed to be redeemed in lieu of confiscation under under the provisions of Section 181 of the Customs Act 1969 when it was established that impugned goods are non duty paid and smuggled into the country in violation of law and fall within the ambit of Section 2 (s) of Customs Act 1969”.
When the matter came up for hearing Sardar Zafar Hussain Advocate appearing for the applicant department submitted that issue has already been decided by Supreme Court of Pakistan in two judgments 2025 SCMR 684 and 2026 SCMR 885 which were further bolstered in judgment passed on 17.8.2026.
The bench held that said judgments are binding and hence disposed as per cited judgments.
The bench further ordered that appellate tribunal be accordingly informed.
