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KARACHI, March 24: The Sindh High Court barred on Wednesday the use of the KMC Sports Complex as a marriage lawn or hall on a commercial basis. A petition challenging the conversion of the sports complex, built on an amenity plot, into a commercially-run marriage lawn was moved by a resident of the Kashmir Road, saying that not only was it illegal under the land use law but also caused public nuisance. There were frequent traffic jams and late-night functions which disturbed the residents, particularly students.
The court issued notices to the city district government and after hearing its counsel, observed that the use of the sports complex as a marriage lawn was violative of the law. It, however, allowed the CDG officers, who are members of the sports club, to hold weddings of their sons and daughters on the premises. All functions must terminate before midnight, it directed.
APPEAL ALLOWED: A division bench allowed an appeal by the Ghazi Barotha Hydel Project contractors against a customs appellate tribunal order asking them to pay normal duty on 123 specialized vehicles imported by it.
The appellants submitted through Barrister Qazi Faez Isa that the federal government issued a notification in May 1995 to exempt the machinery and equipment imported for the hydel power generation project and not manufactured locally from 98 per cent of the customs duty and the whole of the sales tax. Later the exemption limit was reduced to 90 per cent.
Under an agreement with the Water and Power Development Authority, the contractors were to be reimbursed all amounts paid by them by way of duties and taxes levied in the country. The 123 specialized vehicles imported by the contractors were, however, covered by the 1995 notification and the consignments were released by the customs department on payment of nominal duty as provided by the notification.
A customs intelligence officer belatedly issued a 'contravention report' and demanded over Rs87 million as duties payable on the 123 vehicles. The customs appellate tribunal upheld the demand.
The question involved interpretation and application of a notification but was treated as one involving a criminal offence by the customs intelligence and the tribunal to circumvent the inordinate delay in making the demand.
The opinion of one officer was relied upon to set aside previous decision of the department to clear the vehicles on payment of 10 per cent duty in accordance with the 1995 notification. The officer believed that the vehicles were meant for 'luxury and passenger' travel.
Barrister Faez Isa submitted that the customs department could not issue a show-cause notice for the recovery of duty under Section 32 (3) or any other provision of the Customs Act. The illegality of the notice vitiated the entire proceedings, he said. Upholding the arguments, the bench allowed the appeal by a short order.
AL AKHTAR TRUST: Another division bench issued notices to the respondent federal government and the State Bank on an application moved by Al Akhtar Trust for the restoration of its petition against freezing of its bank accounts.
The petition was dismissed in default for non-prosecution. The accounts were allegedly frozen for the trust's links with Al Rasheed Trust and Al Qaeda. Al Rasheed's petition agitating identical questions was allowed by a division bench for the wrong procedure adopted to freeze its accounts.
The judgment said an organization must first be declared by the federal government to have links with a terrorist outfit. The State Bank had no authority to act on its own on mere suspicion.
CM ADVISER'S PLEA: The petition moved by the Sindh chief minister adviser on local government for the exclusion of his name from the exit control list could not be taken up by a division bench on Wednesday for paucity of time.
Petitioner Waseem Akhtar has submitted through Advocate Rizwan H. Nadeem that there was no justification for imposing the foreign travel ban on him. The petition would now come up on a date to be fixed by the SHC office.
