ISLAMABAD: Collector Customs Adjudication Dr. Muhammad Adnan Akram has said that the Collectorate is trying to conclude hearing of pending cases on priority basis despite shortage of staff.
Talking with Customs Today during an exclusive interview the Collector said that the Collectorate of Adjudication Islamabad have a very vast jurisdiction covering Customs Collectorate Gilgit Baltistan, Sialkot, Peshawar and Islamabad whereas the Collectorate have less resources to handle the huge area, he added that the Collectorate of Adjudication must have its independent building so it can perform its function freely.
The Collector said that the Collectorate have low space for example it have no proper sitting arrangements for persons who called for attending hearing of their cases, we got insufficient space as we required whereas the Collectorate of Adjudication also faced shortage of staff which made negative impact on its performance, time and resources created impact on performance he quoted.
Answering to a query the Collector said that during the month of June 2020 the Collectorate decided 82 cases involved revenue of Rs1967 million while during the whole financial year comprises July to June 2019-20.
Telling the details of month of May 2020, the Collector Adjudication Dr. Muhammad Adnan Akram who recently transferred at the Collectorate said that Adjudication was decided total 23 cases during the month of May 2020 while 21 cases were decided in the favor of Customs department as well as 2 number of cases were decided in favor of tax payers.
He further told that total 23 cases were decided during May 2020 were involved revenue of Rs305 million, it told that the Collectorate of Adjudication has been decided 303 cases up to the end of the month of July 2019 to May 2020 whereas total revenue involved in said cases was in worth of Rs10047 million.
He said that due to prevailing pandemic of Covid-19 the process of hearing is slow because we have to follow SOP (standard operation procedure) for conducting hearings, he adding that staff of Collectorate is following all the preventive measures provided by the Government, the staff use masks, sanitizers and gloves during working hours.