KARACHI, March 24: A division bench of the Sindh High Court has directed the Customs Appellate Tribunal to write detailed judgment in a sales tax appeal of Caltex Oil Pak Ltd involving Rs33 million.

The bench comprised Justice Ataur Rahman and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany.

Aziz A. Shaikh and Tayyaba Jabeen, counsel for the petitioner, contended that recovery action in the absence of written judgment of the Customs Appellate Tribunal was pre-mature, illegal and contrary to Rule 3 of the Sales Tax Recovery Rules, 1992.

Neither was tax liability quantified nor finally adjudged to attract the provisions of section 48 of the Act read with Rule 3 of the Recovery Rules made hereunder, contended counsel Shaikh.

The court directed the Collector not to take any coercive action till the final judgment was dispatched to the petitioner within 15 days after receiving the court order.

In another case, the same bench directed the Collector Customs Appraisement to issue repayment cheque to BOC Pakistan Ltd.

Aziz A. Shaikh, counsel for the petitioner, argued that the Collectorate of Customs had failed to comply with this court’s order of September 2001 to decide the case within 90 days. At the request of the department the court granted two months’ time and directed the Collector Customs to appear in person.