KARACHI: The trade bodies including importers and Customs agents have expressed deep concern over the current working scenario in all three collectorates i.e. MCC-Appraisement (East), MCC-Appraisement (West) and MCC-Port Muhammad Bin Qasim.
The trade bodies were of the view that despite the fact that the importers and Customs agents are following the orders issued by Chief Collector (Appraisement), Nasir Masroor Ahmed through a Public Notice No. SI/Misc/01/2013-CC on 9 December, 2013 regarding ‘true declaration’ in which he stated that the importers and Customs agents should have to provide accurate and precise details of goods while filing their Goods Declaration (GD), the Customs officials are taking so much time to clear the GDs.
They further said that the public notice stated that the importers can use Section 79(1) (a) and (b) of the Customs Act 1969 while filing their GDs, however; the trade bodies are abiding by the public notice while the Customs officials are not fulfilling the orders of their high-ups.
They further said that the Customs agents and importers are also waiting in long queues for hearing of their cases, despite the fact that the Collector MCC-Appraisement (West) has issued directives to hear the cases of the importers between 9.00am and 5.00pm.
“The Deputy Collectors and Assistant Collectors, who assigned to hear the cases of importers were busy in other assignments given by their high-ups and often not present on their seats, while the importers and Customs agents were waiting in queues for long hours till late evening”, they asserted.
They further said that the security risk was also present with importers and Customs agents in the area where Customs House is located, and dozens of importers and Customs agents had already become victim of street criminals while returning towards their destinations in late hours of the day.
They demanded of the officials concerned in FBR to take effective action in this regard and rid the representatives of trade bodies from mental and physical agony.
