KARACHI: Model Customs Collectorates (MCCs), Adjudication I & II have shown unprecedented progress by deciding 644 cases involving revenue in millions only in the month of November, despite the shortage of resources and ongoing pandemic.
MCC, Adjudication-I has decided all 254 cases where Order in Original (O-in-O) were issued in the month of November while some 285 cases are pending due to legal issues.
Some 69 cases are sub judice before high court. Seven cases were also granted stay by the Customs Appellate Tribunal while in 209 rest of the cases, hearings are being held to finalize the adjudication proceedings.
Similarly, the MCC Adjudication-II has also disposed off all 390 cases during last month where the O-in-O were issued. In addition, the Collectorate has also decided 239 cases pertaining to misdeclaration of value on import of IT equipment whereas 14 cases of IT are sub judice in the high court. Moreover, 65 cases of sugar meant for transit to Afghanistan have also been disposed of in compliance of the order of Sindh High Court after withdrawal of appeal by the department in the Supreme Court. Furthermore, 25 old cases of ginned cotton have also decided during the month.
Talking to Business Recorder, collector Adjudication–II Iqbal Bhawana, who was also holding an additional charge of collector Adjudication-I in November, said both collectorates during the short period of four months have disposed of as many as 1000 cases despite shortage of resources.
He said the main focus and priority of Adjudication Collectorates in Karachi was to ensure that the export cases were decided expeditiously in order to avert unnecessary delays in the shipment of export consignments.
He said that the cases received from the clearance collectorates were decided at the earliest to facilitate importers in avoiding excessive financial burden of demurrages and port charges; he said and appreciated the effective coordination of all collectorates and directorates that enabled Adjudication Collectorate to show the said performance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020