KARACHI, June 8: A division bench of the Sindh High Court suspended on Friday operation of an order passed by the Customs Excise and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAE), Karachi bench, after hearing special customs appeals 61 & 62, preferred by Gandhara Nissan Diesel Limited.

The bench comprised the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, and Justice Musheer Alam.

Aziz A. Shaikh, counsel for the appellant, argued that once assessment of duty and taxes were made under section 25-B of the Customs Act of 1969, containing non obstante clause, the jurisdiction of Collector of Customs was ousted to reopen the same assessment under section 25 of the Act.

He relied upon the cases of S. Abdullah vs Collector of Customs (PLD 1992 Kar 258 and Farhat Azeem vs Waheed Rasool (PLD) 200 SC 18) that even the value ascertained by the customs under section 25-B of the Act could not be disputed by invoking the provisions of section 32 of the Act, unless show-cause notice was served within six months. Such proceedings after the lapse of the statutory period should be devoid of any force of law.

Counsel Shaikh further contended that evidently the appellants were singled out, whereas other similarly placed organizations were not questioned by the customs to add value slip element during operation of pre-shipment inspection companies empowered to asses normal value in pursuance of SRO 1108(1)/94. Thus the order impugned offended discrimination clause of the constitution of 1973 and was liable to be brushed aside.

Raja M. Iqbal appeared for the customs along with law officers. The matter was adjourned to Aug 6.