Official says it's near impossible to go after every man who purchased an NCP vehicle. PHOTO: FILE
Thousands of vehicle owners in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have expressed shock over the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision declaring the Amnesty Scheme introduced on March 5 as unlawful.
On Wednesday, the IHC declared the previous government’s scheme to legitimize smuggled vehicles illegal and asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to impound 50,000 vehicles and announce bids for their auction.
Under the Amnesty Scheme 2013, non-custom paid (NCP) vehicles would be legalised or registered after a payment of duty and a rigorous verification process.
A customs official told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity, 17,400 NCP vehicles have been registered across the province, “Impounding and auctioning these is now impossible,” he said.
The purchase and sale of these vehicles brought billions to the national exchequer after their taxes were paid; the court should have taken the decision before, commented the official.
Some vehicles were registered illegally and the FIA has started a crackdown with the help of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO); many NCP vehicles which were registered do not even exist, stipulated the customs officer.
“A large number of such vehicles have already entered the market as they were cleared under the scheme,” said car dealer Abdul Majid, who wondered how the orders will be implemented now.
“I don’t know what’s going on. First they (NCP cars) were declared legal and when a large number of people bought and sold them, they have been deemed illegal.”
This will drastically decrease the sale of local and imported vehicles, affecting business badly, argued Majid. He expressed hope that the Supreme Court (SC) will issue a stay order on the decision.
Another car dealer, Haroon Afridi also criticised the order saying he shifted to NCP vehicles following the introduction of the scheme and borrowed large amounts of money to purchase them.
An official of the FBR in Islamabad said they only have 4,000 officials across the country, which makes it near impossible to go after every man who purchased an NCP vehicle. According to the officer, the FBR will approach the SC against the decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2013.
COMMENTS (19)
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AOA!! I ask IHC judge,do he live in pakistan?? When this scheme was started where was he?? On 6th of march SCP tooked stay? Where was u sir?? U all the big baloon stomach owners,u people r there on ur chairs to take care of ur family and ur self!! Make illegal SRO,and wrong desicions u corrupt people and implliment the punishments on innocent public!!
I think jujes are not living in this world. they are given residence in arash molla, where they just come in pakistan and without seeing ground realities pass decisions. where this juj was sleeping when in whole pakistan amensty schem was observing and medial was reporting continuosly. i think this decision shows the inablity of our jujes. i am very surprise to see decision where when inquiry form authorities and responsible officials but punishing to the general public.
it looks that hukram are active and jujes awakend after 100 years. i offers to juj sahab that i am the person who is ordinary officer in private comapny, and purchase vehicle because i am resding 200km away from my home with family, just to move comfortable my family i invest my all acomulated amount in the purchase of this vehicle, in this scenario if he think it is just then i submit my vehicle in FBR, otherwise he may revise his decision and in future do the rational decision because u jujes are only hope for the safety of this country and we like u or CJS
The IHC had given immeture desecion about the NCP cars the judiciary is going out frm the hands and they should b shame by this decesion. What ill hapen about those people who have just abality to buy one car and now they bought a NCP car and now NCP are decleared illegal
Shame on u IHC
Its bad part on judiciary... But instead of debating we shud see some solution to it Court can order all the registered NCP veh to pay additional taxes to be equalize with a local car of same class and at the same time it can ban the NCP veh... the matter has to be implemented by force to some extent but the pblm will be solved
i bought two cars under amnesty scheme spended more then 75 lack as both my cars are german make..today i was totally shocked when a gang of 4 people asking my neibours and people around my residence of my arrival and departure timings and when asked they said they are from intelligence,i live abroad when it came to my knowlege i have hide my cars some where else..i strongly condemn the decision of ihc and i request the respected chief justice to look into this matter as many of other innocent people investment is at stake..i was planning to invest some money in pakistan but now i have changed my mind i never know what will come up next..i pray that this matter get solved at its earliest and i advice people to underground there cars untill some decision is made in favour of us..
i agree unjustified decision of the IHC, our work highlight the issues, i think it is very hard decision. impossible to implement
of course this is unjustified decision of the court.where the court was when the scheme was announced and a lot of people rushed away, to purchase vehicles in triable areas. this is not implementable decision and it will ultimately reversible.
where was the court in 1999 and was it sleeping when fbr announced the scheme
I took loan 5 lac loan to buy the car and then paid 2.5 lac custom duty from my pocket on it. Tell me if govt takes my car from me which I bought on the notification of govt, then who will compensate me and how I will pay the loan. I will have the only option to sell my house for payment of loan. I m not a smuggler I m a citizen of pak who followed the rules, bought an ncp car paid duty on it and registered it now govt is taking it back from me without giving me the amount which I spent. it will really dishearten me and will create severe hatred in my heart. I m in severe tension since this decision has come as I m an ordinary citizen of pak and my whole life earnings are invested in this car.
i bought a car on 450000 rupees and with the government scheme i registered it on 350000,i spent total 800000 on that car,who will pay me that money/?what kind of justice is this and the law is just for poor people who dont have contact in the government because those who have contacts they are driving there ncp cars and they dont have any problem why? because the same government is taking bribe.............
Let me start by saying I was against the Amnesty Scheme on principle. However what I fail to understand is that once an SRO is issued to the public and is acted upon, how does the public know that it is legal or illegal? That would be like today declaring that owning a mobile phone is illegal and hence everyone who bought one in the last 10 years must be punished! How was I supposed to know that owning a mobile phone would become illegal???
OK, so now the SRO is declared illegal, then two things much happen:-
The cars that have been cleared by the system remain legal as it is not the fault of the public that the SRO was illegal. All parties involved in creating the SRO are brought to severe justice. That would include the FBR, the Finance Minister and the negligence of the Courts that did not act quicker in the public interest.Isn't it strange that no actions are being taken against the people who brought out this illegal SFO, only the innocent public that lawfully took advantage of it. I say innocent because the dealers who actually smuggled these vehicles have long since sold them off and are laughing all the way to the bank.
The saddest part of this is that from now on we can not believe anything our government tells us because it might turn out to be illegal months later. The really question is who is in charge of this country, the government, the army, the courts, maybe it's just the Devil.
the Pakistani judiciary is putting its nose in all those matters that create a hype and a sensation of the judiciary being supreme, unquestionable, super man...bla bla...if anything these issues do not do is giving real relief to the people of Pakistan....Its time these judges are told to straighten up...they are not Gods but ordinary people who have been imposed on us by the British Law.....it is the corruption and inefficiency in our legal system that is the root cause of most of our problems....if these judges and court perform their duties correctly, half of our problems will be solved then and there.
So the reform process should start from these judges and our legal system and they should be held accountable first of all.
Judiciary should not be there to create a nuisance value but to serve the people in the best possible manner. After all they are public servants not Greek gods of some type.....shame on us for being part of and supporting the system....
I feel thAt in Pakistan court s judges have made thier parallel government. It isn't the business of judges,to interrupt in County matters.Fbr is an institution, that can take any decision in the better interest of country.this is not good decision.
Where was the Court when the registration process started? Why the court is going to ruin all this process, when the majority of the people are innocent, they just availed the opportunity just bcoz of the silence of court during these days, that was natural phenomena that they availed opportunity. I did'nt avail this opportunity, but my best wishes and sympathies are with those who availed this scheme.
May Allah help you all.
I myself availed a loan of Rs.250,000/- from friends and family members only on the hope to make my vehicle registered under the amenstry scheme 2013 and to use it further as a source of earning. This is very clear that the government is trying to make a fool of their own people and to strongly dis-heart them at every step. If it was illegal why this scheme was announced? The FBR should ought to have seen legal frame work before making any decision. I'm skeptic if FBR comes under the state rule or just held for the purpose to deceive and to confiscate money from General Public.
aoa.. every one know that this was not the first time for NCP cars amensty scheme.. in 1999 it was also introduced.. where was the court at that and also after that time.. we also know that alot of wheicles is non duty paied in tribles ares,, what a plan for that.. if some one pay tax and duty and legalise their cars , what a bad he did.. i alsobrought car from home , which is in tribl area and pay duty and tax.. now i heard this .. what a non sense decision .. government was in need of money for election , they inroduce this scheme, and now again nawaz govt needs money , they did a decision from court.. Allah hum sub ko hidayat dy dain .. ameen
The original importers must be held accountable, they were the ones who along with FBR/Customs drafted this illegal scheme!
The government generated revenue of billions out of the amnesty scheme and now the scheme has been declared illegal. Now confisicating the cars from the public will be unfair, a lot of people have taken loans and have invested in the cars so they could earn some money out of it, how will they return the loans? This is a major issue of this country that due to unstable laws there is so less foreign investment in Pakistan. The orders with all the due respect should be taken back by the court, as it would save the public of Pakistan from severe losses.