Law: Customs Act, 1969

Section: 2(s),16,156(i),157,168,178,181,196

Law: Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1950

Section: 3(1),7(3)

Customs Act (IV of 1969)-- --Ss. 196, 168 & 181--SRO No. 499(I)/2009 dated; 13-06-2009-- Reference to High Court--Seizure of things liable to Confiscation- Prohibition of giving option to pay fine in lieu of confiscated goods-- Findings of facts--Scope--Department assailed order of Appellate Tribunal whereby it had released the vehicle of respondent despite the prohibition contained in clause (b) of SRO No. 499(I)/2009 dated; 13-06-2009--Validity--Appellate Tribunal had observed that no facie direct/adequate evidence was available to prove that the owner of vehicle/respondent was directly involved in smuggling--Vehicle could only be confiscated if it was involved wholly and exclusively in the use of transportation of smuggled goods whereas the facts showed that the vehicle was carrying about 20 passengers who were present in the vehicle and they (passengers) were allowed to leave when the goods and the vehicle was seized--Findings of the Appellate Tribunal that no prima facie direct/adequate evidence was available to prove the owner of vehicle was directly Involved in smuggling of goods were findings of fact and the High Court had no jurisdiction to decide and set aside such findings in Reference proceedings--High Court only dealt with "question of law", which had not arisen out of the impugned order--High Court declined to exercise its advisory jurisdiction--Reference application was decided against the department. ORDER Through this Customs Reference filed under section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969 ("Act"), the applicant has called in question judgment/order dated 22.02.2016 passed by the Customs Appellate Tribunal. Bench-I, Lahore, ("Appellate Tribunal") whereby the appeal filed by the respondent was allowed. 2. The brief facts of the case are that on receipt of secret information, staff of the Directorate of Intelligence, FBR, Lahore intercepted bus bearing Registration No. 1ES-078538 at Babu Sabu Interchange, Lahore which was coming from Peshawar. On cursory inspection, huge quantity of foreign goods were found available in rear portion of the bus and its Dikkies. The vehicle was carrying at least 20 passengers who were allowed to leave as they did not…

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