IHC slams customs overmissing gold

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has expressed dissatisfaction with an offer to pay Rs4.8 million to a petitioner in lieu of gold bars and issued a show-cause notice to the customs collector in a contempt of court case, seeking a response within two weeks.

A division bench comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir issued a written order after hearing a contempt petition over the failure to comply with its direction to return gold bars seized after being recovered from a passenger's bag.

A citizen, Waqarun Nisa, had filed the contempt petition over the alleged non-compliance with the court's order.

According to the written order, the petitioner's counsel submitted that the court had ordered the return of the gold bars and not payment of money in their place. The counsel also argued that the amount offered had been calculated using gold prices from 2023 rather than the prevailing market rate.

The court was informed that the gold bars had been handed over to the State Bank of Pakistan and could not be retrieved.

According to the order, the customs authorities had acted under Section 169(4) of the Customs Act, which deals with the sale of confiscated goods and the safekeeping of the proceeds.

However, the relevant provision does not mention handing over confiscated goods to the State Bank and subsequently declaring them irretrievable, the court observed.

The court said no satisfactory explanation had been provided as to why the taxpayer should bear the loss arising from the difference in the value of the gold bars.

It issued a show-cause notice to the customs collector and adjourned the hearing until November 2.