The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the establishment of a special commission to formulate a benchmark to eliminate the menace of duty evasion on imported goods, and smuggling of arms and drugs. A five-member bench also set up a task force to submit a comprehensive policy towards dealing with the use of unauthorised SIM cards. The bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry comprising Justice Jawad S Khuwaja, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Eaz Afzal Khan was seized with the hearing of Karachi law and order implementation case at the Karachi registry.
From the outset of hearing, chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Ismail Shah told the court about temporary measures to eradicate the menace of illegal SIM cards. He told the court that not more than two SIMs would be activated on a single mobile phone, while a single user would not be allowed to use more than five SIMs.
He said that at the first stage, cellular companies will find out those identity cards against which more than 10 SIMs were registered and with co-operation of PTA those numbers would be called and asked to keep maximum five numbers against one CNIC, while rest of the numbers would be blocked.
He submitted that the import of mobile phones without the international mobile station equipment identity (IMEI) numbers will not be allowed and it would be possible with the co-operation of custom authorities.
The five-judge bench formed a task force to submit a comprehensive policy to check the use of illegal SIMs. The task force will comprise representatives of all cellular companies and agencies under the administrative control of defence ministry and focal persons appointed by chief secretary and provincial police chief of each province.
The Chief Justice said that after reviewing the recommendations submitted by the task force, the court would pass appropriate orders, and till then the interim arrangements as submitted by PTA shall be made to check use of illegal SIM cards. To a query regarding the presence of sophisticated weapons in the metropolis, Advocate General Sindh Khalid Jawed Khan gave a vague response on efforts made by provincial government to recover illicit arms. He said there were massive sophisticated weapons in Karachi, while law and order committee headed by chief minister Sindh had devised a strategy to recover illicit arms.
The bench directed provincial government to purge the city of illicit arms and submit a report to the court on the next hearing about the recovery of illegal arms.
At the direction of court, Attorney General for Pakistan and Advocate General of Sindh submitted their joint proposal, suggesting measures to ensure 100 percent recovery of duty on goods. They submitted that due to numerous potential shortfalls, it may not be possible to make a firm statement that 100 percent duty were being collected by FBR.
They stated that due to non-availability of advanced technology, equipment and manpower customs authorities were unable to inspect and verify the content of the all containers. It was stated that FBR needed to revise SOPs and risk evaluation mechanism in order to minimise the risk of evasion.
The most sophisticated equipment and screening facility would fail to yield desired results in the absence of an honest and determined workforce. There was possibility of impropriety by some officers at different stages of clearance of consignments, which was a major concern and would be addressed by the FBR, they added.
They suggested that FBR should beef up its directorate of intelligence.
They said that if the importers knew that there was strong check outside the port premises, it would deter mis-declaration, smuggling and even collusive release of consignment.
They proposed that a three-member body comprising judicial, technical and accounts experts should be appointed to provide a benchmark for collection and assessment of duty on imports. They submitted that commissions should inspect and audit the duty charged on goods and also conduct an inspection of goods leaving ports and compare them with assessments made on respective goods declaration.
Commission should make recommendations after consulting all stakeholders on the strategy and methodology to employ in achieving the goal of 100 percent duty collection, they suggested.
The bench directed FBR and other concerned to nominate a judicial, technical and accounting member for the proposed commission to ensure that 100 percent tax on imports of goods was recovered and give proposed list members before 3rd of December, 2013 to the registrar of this Court. On the receipt of the same, further appropriate order would be passed in this regard, it added.
The hearing of case was adjourned to a date later to be fixed by the court's office. PPI