The Collector of Adjudication, Customs, has announced that all contravention cases, before being vetted by the legal department, will be routed through the respective collectors.
This has been revealed by Karachi Customs Agents Group (KCAG) General Secretary Tariq Siddiqui.
The new procedure has been conveyed to the Collector, Port Qasim, copies of which have been sent to other collectorates.
The KCGA General Secretary said if the process was adopted, then the contravention report would be first sent to the assistant and deputy collector, who would then forward it to the additional collector.
The report would then be marked to the collector, who would refer the same to the legal department for vetting, he said.
The report would traverse the same route and then would find its way to the office of the adjudication collectorate.
The process would definitely take one month in finalisation of the case, which could be ascertained from the fact that the contravention cases, made on August 2, were still under process of vetting, said the KCAG Secretary.
He said the delay in finalisation of the cases would mean extra cost in the form of demurrage.
He recalled that the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Chairman, during his recent visit to Karachi, had stressed the need for reducing cost of doing business in Pakistan through swift clearance of the imports.
He said the new procedure would also increase load of work on the customs officials, who were already occupied in streamlining the process of clearance of the imports under the new system of automated clearance procedure (ACP).
Tariq urged the CBR Chairman to direct the adjudication collectorate to withdraw the cumbersome procedure and take steps for fast adjudication of the cases as justice delayed meant that justice was denied.