FTO cancels ‘illegal’ auction for imported vehicle by Customs Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), while canceling an illegal auction of an imported vehicle, reprimanded the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Karachi, which miserably failed to protect the rights of citizens under the Constitution.

In this regard, the FTO has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to cancel an illegal auction of an imported vehicle by Customs Karachi and hand it over to the actual importer due to mal-administration committed by Customs officials of the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Karachi.

The FTO’s order revealed that Ministry of Commerce was issuing condonation letter to the importer, but relevant Customs officials, deliberately auctioned the vehicle in haste without realising the genuine hardship of the importer.

According to the directive of the FTO to the FBR, the Collector, Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Karachi would cancel the subject auction proceedings, recover the vehicle and hand it over to the complainant, in terms of the Ministry of Commerce’s Import Authorization.

Details of the case revealed that the complaint was filed against the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Karachi, under Section 10(1) of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (FTO Ordinance) regarding cancellation of auction and recovery of vehicle.

The complainant imported used vehicle was handed over to shipping line in last week of December in Japan but due to unforeseen technical reasons, the vessel’s departure was delayed and arrived on Feb 15, 2024, which constitute minor deviation from condition as specified in para 3(2) of Appendix-E of Import Policy Order (IPO), 2016. The complainant applied for condonation from the Ministry of Commerce, which is in process and after calling for report from FBR will be presented in meeting chaired by Ministry of Commerce, to condone delay by exercising powers granted under para 20 of IPO, 2016. However, the customs department auctioned the vehicle without following pre-requisite procedure as specified in Customs Act, 1969 (Act) against very low price compared to its market value. The complainant prayed that the directions be issued to the department to cancel the auction and recover the vehicle.The FTO found that there was a minor deviation as per the conditions specified in para 3(2) of Appendix-E of Import Policy Order in vogue.

The complainant had duly applied to the Ministry of Commerce for condonation of minor deviation, and where the matter was still under examination.

It would be further important to note that this issue of condonation in the subject case was well in the notice of the department as the department in their comments have admitted that in case of three such other vehicles, the Ministry of Commerce had already communicated condonation to the department while the case of this vehicle was still pending for decision.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024