ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Commerce (MoC) on Monday has won the case against Chairman National Tariff Commission (NTC) Abbas Raza in Lahore High Court (LHC).
Kausar Zaidi, Joint Secretary (Admin) , Commerce who had been summoned by the Chief Justice Lahore High Court in person told Business Recorder that Chief Justice LHC dismissed the petition of Chairman NTC after examining documentary evidence and hearing arguments of Commerce Ministry . The new Chairman NTC Qasim Niaz – a former Secretary Commerce who left charge after the entry of Abbas Raza will resume charge soon.
According to the Joint Secretary, Chairman NTC had misrepresented to the court and government by saying that he possesses an MBA degree from Canberra (Australia) but in fact he got a degree from the University of the Punjab, adding that neither his qualifications nor his experience was relevant.
Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed the following five members: (i) Qasim Niaz, former Secretary Commerce; (ii) Abdul Khaliq, incumbent Member NTC; (iii) Saira Khattak; (iv) Rubina Athar, the then Additional Secretary Ministry of Commerce; and (v) Tippu Khan. Commerce Ministry issued appointment notifications of these five members. Additionally, Qasim Niaz was appointed Chairman NTC through a separate notification.
Soon after the notification of Qasim Niaz as new Chairman NTC, the removed Chairman, Abbas Raza approached Lahore High Court and obtained a stay order against the appointment of new Chairman and resumed office and remains Chairman NTC to this day.
Commerce Ministry claimed that Abbas Raza was removed in accordance with the agreement signed with the federal government. Commerce Minister, Khurram Dastgir, was confident that the Ministry would win its case in the LHC.
The local industry was confused about the prolonged dispute of NTC Chairman’s appointment as this state of affairs was not helpful in the investigation. However, the Ministry maintained that the strength of Members is complete so there should not be an issue to industry.
According to the local industry, trade remedial investigations are time bound investigations strictly in accordance with the international treaties and commitments. Therefore investigations need to be carried out in a timely fashion otherwise the importers/exporters will take undue advantage of the time limitation by indulging in unnecessary litigations to abuse the process of law as has been observed in the past.
The importers of various end consumer products filed a large number of writ petitions just to thwart due process and avoid imposition of duties.
They have been successful and managed to avoid punitive measures at the cost of loss to the domestic industry. In the present WTO regime it is imperative for the states to ensure contemporary ways of governance in order to meet the challenges of globalisation. —MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
