Law: Customs Act, 1969

Section: 2(rr),168,171

Customs Act (IV of 1969)-- --Ss. 2(rr), 168 & 171--Seizure of vehicles--Show-cause notice, non-issuance of--Effect--Petitioner was importer of vehicles which were seized by customs authorities--Validity--Vehicles were seized by customs authorities on 30-06-2017 but neither a seizure memo was prepared nor a show-cause notice issued to petitioner within two months of seizure--Collector Customs did not extend period further as provided by Customs Act, 1969--Mere issuance of notice under S. 171 of Customs Act, 1969 was not a substitute of show-cause notice nor it had absolved customs authorities of their responsibility to complete adjudication process in accordance with law within prescribed time-- When a statute provided an act to be done in a particular manner, it must be done--Needful was not done which showed that customs authorities were either convinced that no proceedings were required as provided by S. 168 of Customs Act, 1969 or due to negligence proceedings were not initiated in time--Mandatory provision of law was violated by customs authorities, therefore, they had no jurisdiction to detain the vehicles benefit of such inaction must go to the petitioner--High Court directed customs authorities to release the vehicles--Constitutional petition was allowed in circumstances. THIS ORDER PASSED BY: JAMAL KHAN MANDOKHAIL, JUSTICE:---.--- The Government of Pakistan has announced an Import Policy Order, 2016 (the Policy) and notified vide S.R.O. No. 345(I)/2016 dated 18-4-2016. Pursuant to Rule 9 Clause (II) sub-clause (5) of the Policy, the construction, mining, oil, gas and petroleum sector companies are permitted to import specialized vehicles, not older than five years. The petitioner is a Government contractor firm, which imported vehicles, which reached Pakistan on 13-6-2017. The petitioner filed Goods Declaration (GD) on the said date and paid all the applicable taxes and duties. Since then, six of the vehicles mentioned in the GD have been retained by the Customs authorities. Feeling aggrieved, the present petition has been filed. 2. The learned counsel for the petitioner states that the Customs authorities have retained the vehicles, claiming them…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492