Customs Act (IV of 1969)---

----Ss.25 & 30---Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199-- Constitutional petition---Assessment of Customs duty---Grievance of petitioner was that the Customs Authorities had not assessed value of imported goods on the basis of value operating at the time of import, but had assessed on the basis of value operating three years earlier-- Under provisions of Ss.25 & 30 of Customs Act, 1969 assessment was to be made on the price prevailing on the date of import---Assessment made on the basis of value prevailing three years prior to date of import appeared to be arbitrary---Case was remanded to Collector of Customs (Appraisement) who would make assessment in accordance with law within specified period.

Abdul Wajid Wyne for Petitioner.

Nadeem Azhar, Dy. A.-G. for Respondent No. 1.

Haider Iqbal Wahniwal for Respondent No.2.

Raja M. Iqbal for Respondent No.3.

ORDER

The petitioner's grievance appears to be that while assessing customs duty under section 25 of the Customs Act, the- respondents, instead of determining the value of the imported goods, had-not assessed the same on the basis of the value operating at the time of import, i.e., October, 1994, but merely on the basis of value operating three years earlier, i.e., in 1991, which was much higher.

Indeed, section 25(1) of the Customs Act (as it then stood) read with section 30, required that assessment be made on the price prevailing on the date of import. Though it is not possible for this Court to assess the value in exercise of Constitutional jurisdiction, it needs to be observed that assessment on the basis of value prevailing three years prior to the date of import appears to be arbitrary.

We would, therefore, allow this petition and remand the matter to the Collector of Customs (Appraisement), who would cause assessment in accordance with law within two months from today.

With the above observations, the petition stands disposed of.

H.B.T./I-17/K Petition allowed accordingly.