SHC Suspends Vehicle Release Ordered by Custom Appellate Tribunal
Karachi: The Sindh High Court has suspended an order issued by the Custom Appellate Tribunal in Karachi, which had directed the Pakistan Customs to release a Toyota Cygnus Land Cruiser Jeep, Model 2005. The decision comes after a Special Customs Reference Application (SCRA) was filed by the Directorate of Intelligence & Investigations, Pakistan Customs.
The SHC bench, while passing the orders, directed that the respondents should be served with the notices which include the vehicle owner also, The court also stayed. the order issued by the Tribunal on 2 May 2024. Over five million rupees’ valued vehicle is under the question and the department contested the decision of the Tribunal’s single-member (Judicial) bench.
Case Details and Timeline
The case started on September 24, 2022, when a DIT team intercepted the Toyota Land Cruiser (Cygnus) Jeep with registration number YY-017, Islamabad, and chassis number UZJ100-0152421 at Zam Zama around 5:00 PM. The owner of the vehicle, Muhammad Bilal Shah, failed to provide the import documents and claimed that he had bought the vehicle from the open market.
Upon inspection, it was discovered that the vehicle’s chassis number had been tampered with and welded, leading to the vehicle’s impoundment. The Customs department. initiated proceedings against the owner. The initial ruling (Order in Original) dismissed the owner’s defense, prompting the owner to appeal to the Custom Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal set aside the Order in Original and directed the release of the vehicle, relying upon a Supreme Court judgment holding that import papers are not required for vehicles more than ten years old.
Legal Arguments and Suspension
In the ongoing SCRA case, Khalid Mehmood Rajpar, the lawyer for the DIT, has raised objections. He contested the financial jurisdiction of the case and argued that the case should have been presented before a two-member bench because the value of the vehicle is more than five million rupees.
In response, Rajpar argued that the owner of the vehicle had failed to prove his case, and thus, the Tribunal’s decision should be set aside. He further stated that the matter was very urgent, as the Customs Tribunal was insisting on the release of the vehicle, although an appeal was pending before the SHC.
