Importing lions: Osaka Traders goes to court
Private company says it had an NOC to import the wildcats.
KARACHI:
Osaka Traders has gone to court against the Customs authorities for impounding the four lions that it had imported from South Africa.
Customs had seized the four lions of a rare species at the Karachi airport early on December 21, saying that the company’s permission had expired. The lions were handed over to the Sindh wildlife department later that day till the dispute was resolved. However, the department shifted the lions to the Karachi zoo since they did not have the facility to keep the wildcats.
On Wednesday, the company’s lawyer maintained that they had obtained a No-Objection Certificate on December 12, 2008 from the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife which allowed them to import up to 10 animals. The company said that it had fulfilled all legal formalities but when the cats arrived in Karachi on December 21, customs officials seized the animals in an allegedly illegal move and impounded the four lions and sent them to the Zoological Garden in Karachi.
Osaka Traders prayed the court to declare the import legal and the action taken by customs as mala fide. They asked for the animals to be returned.
The bench - Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan - heard the initial arguments and decided to seek comments from the respondents. It ordered pre-admission notices to them along with the Sindh Advocate General, Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan, customs authorities, Sindh Wildlife Management Board and other respondents for December 31.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2010.
Osaka Traders has gone to court against the Customs authorities for impounding the four lions that it had imported from South Africa.
Customs had seized the four lions of a rare species at the Karachi airport early on December 21, saying that the company’s permission had expired. The lions were handed over to the Sindh wildlife department later that day till the dispute was resolved. However, the department shifted the lions to the Karachi zoo since they did not have the facility to keep the wildcats.
On Wednesday, the company’s lawyer maintained that they had obtained a No-Objection Certificate on December 12, 2008 from the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife which allowed them to import up to 10 animals. The company said that it had fulfilled all legal formalities but when the cats arrived in Karachi on December 21, customs officials seized the animals in an allegedly illegal move and impounded the four lions and sent them to the Zoological Garden in Karachi.
Osaka Traders prayed the court to declare the import legal and the action taken by customs as mala fide. They asked for the animals to be returned.
The bench - Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan - heard the initial arguments and decided to seek comments from the respondents. It ordered pre-admission notices to them along with the Sindh Advocate General, Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan, customs authorities, Sindh Wildlife Management Board and other respondents for December 31.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2010.