KARACHI, Sept 23: The Sindh High Court has restrained the Export Promotion Bureau from disposing of in any manner, including transferring, utilizing, awarding and allocating category 20 (bedlinen) quota of the European Union.

The injunction has been passed by the SHC on September 22, 2003, on an application filed under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2 CPC/CMA No 5293 of 2003, by the plaintiffs Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) and individual exporters of bedwear to the European Union.

The plaintiffs prayed before the SHC to declare the EPB’s second circular dated 31.1.2003 is without jurisdiction or any lawful authority or effect in so far as it purports to place a restriction on the their rights to make shipment against their blocked quota.

They further prayed to declare that they are entitled to the blocked quota in category EU-20, being their vested property rights to which they have title.

In a suit No 1057 of 2003 filed on September 22, 2003, the Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association and 10 other bedlinen exporters pointed out that the EPB in its circular dated 1.7.2002 informed the exporters that within the overall parameters of the bilateral agreements, they would be allowed “over-programming” i.e. they would be allowed to make shipments in excess of their actual quota entitlements.

Therefore, the exporters were granted permission to make an excess shipment in category EU-20, equal to 10 per cent of their total entitlement for the year 2002. Subsequently, by means of the EPB’s circular dated 24.9.2002, the exporters of EU-20 were permitted to avail of over-programming equal to a further 10 per cent, which took the grand total to 20 per cent.

The plaintiffs drew the attention of the court towards paragraph 5 of the circular dated 1.7.2002, which lays down three parameters and conditions in respect of the over-programming facility.

They noted that paragraph 5 of the circular states that if an exporter availed of the over-programming facility, then an entry would be made in his quota pass book in 2003, and an amount equal to the over-programming availed would be partially blocked, i.e. he would not be permitted to transfer quota in 2003 equal to the over-programming availed.

However, the plaintiffs stressed that there was no restriction in so far as the shipment was concerned and for obvious reasons the whole point of the over programming facility was to increase and encourage exports, therefore, no restrictions were imposed on the shipments to be made by the exporters concerned in 2003.

In other words, they said, if an exporter did over-programming of, say 100 tons, and if in 2003 his total quota entitlement was 500 tons, then he could transfer it to another exporter up to 400 tons. However, he could utilize the entire 500 tons for the purpose of his own shipment.

The plaintiffs further argued that paragraph 5 of the circular provides that if no overshipments were reported by June 30, 2003, even the restriction on transfer would be lifted. Therefore, they pointed out that this obviously imposed an obligation and duty on the EPB to determine at the latest by June 30 whether there were in fact any overshipments caused by the use of over-programming facility.

In support of this they stated that determination of over-programming could easily be made well in advance of the stipulated deadline since the relevant data and statistics (both within Pakistan and from the EU) were readily available. In the past, the matter of determining overshipments, if any, would invariably be resolved much before June 30, they added.

They further said that the paragraph provides that in case there was any overshipment a pro rata deduction would be made from the quota entitlements for 2003 of those exporters who had availed of the over-programming facility. Obviously, the overshipment (if any) referred to in paragraph 5 was relatable only to that caused by use of the over-programming facility, and not otherwise, they maintained.

Recently the EPB has also allowed carryover quota only after they got the relief from the court, but in the process the country’s exports suffered immensely, the exporters said.