MUSARRA T HILALI, J.----Through instant petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioners have prayed for the following relief:- i. Declare that the respondent No. 4 (E.D.B)'s view point, vide letter dated 06.04.2018 is incorrect, illegal and without jurisdiction; ii. Declare that the detention of the petitioners" vehicles is illegal and against the dictates of law, natural justice and the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and direct the respondents to release the detained vehicles forthwith; iii. Declare that the harassment by the respondents through the threat of unwarranted penal actions i.e., withhold and detention of the petitioners" vehicle is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional, against the Custom laws, extremely arbitrary , capricious, mala fide, unlawful, discriminatory , confiscatory and lack of proper application of mind; iv. Direct the respondents to release the subject vehicles and hand over the same to the petitioners with delay and detention certificates; Restrain the respondents, their officers, agents, assigns, employees and any person(s) acting or claiming on their behalf from taking any coercive action against the petitioners by any means without permission of this Hon'ble Court, vi. Cost of the petition may also be awarded in favour of the petitioners. vii. Any other or better relief(s) which this Hon'able Court may deem fit in the circumstances of the case.
2. Arguments heard and record perused.
3. It is reflected from the record that the petitioners are importers of vehicles falling under the category of "Vans", who imported vehicles of different brands. On reaching Peshawar Dry Port, the petitioners submitted their respective Goods Declarations along with all requisite documents, including the vehicles' export certificates, to the authorized Customs Agents, which were found to be in line with the declaration, however , the Custom Collector (respondent No.1) withheld its clearance on the ground that its specification as to whether it is 'van' or otherwise was questioned by the Karachi Customs, so, in the backdrop, the matter was referred to the Engineering Development Board to get their view point as to whether the vehicles Honda N-Bo x 650cc, Toyota Probox, 1290cc and Toyota Succeed 1290cc, fall under the category of cars or otherwise. As per opinion of the Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement West Custom House Karachi and Model Customs Collectorate Custom House, Peshawar , the vehicles were categorized as Cars. According to the petitioners, identical objections was earlier raised by the Karachi Customs in the recent past in me case of Toyota Probox Van, where clearance was sought vide letter dated 28.12.2017, accordingly , the matter was referred to the local agent of the Toyota Vehicles Messrs Indus Motors, Vide Collectorate's letter dated 01.01.2018, who vide letter dated 10.01.2018 confirmed that the Toyota Probox was 'Van' and on receipt of the said clarification from the local agent of the manufacturer Toyota, the vehicle was allowed to be released by the Karachi Customs as Wan' but in their case, despite of the manufacturer such confirmation coupled with exporting country's vehicle registration documents; confirmation of the chasis series as 'Van' from relevant web-sites, the Karachi Customs with mala fide intention has referred the matter to the Engineering Development Board and on such incorrect view point of the respondent No.4, the respondent No.2 has detained the petitioners' vehicle that have already been arrived at the Peshaw ar Dry Port, which act of the respondents, according to them, is illegal, unlawful, extremely arbitrary and discriminatory .
3. The respondents in their parawise comments averred that the petitioners have imported cars of different makes (Honda N-Box, Toyota Probox and Toyota Succeed), and according to opinion of the Engineering Development Board, the same are categorized as cars, whose importability with regard to age is restricted upto three years under paragraph 3 (1) and (2) of Appendix-E. to the Import Policy Order , 2016, however , with regard to report of Toyota Indus Motors Karachi, they stated that there are conflicting view of Engineering Development Board with it.
4. It is established from the record that there is existing policy and procedure for import of vehicles under the personal baggage, transfer of residence and gift schemes, i.e., Import Policy Order , 2016. Under paragraph 3(1) and (1) to appendix-E of the policy , impor tability of the vehicles with regard to its age upto three years for cars and five years for others has been provided. In the present case, the only dispute in respect of the subject vehicles is as to whether the same are "Van" or "Car". Identical issue was earlier raised in Writ Petition No. 3353 of 2018 titled Ikram Ullah and others v. Federation of Pakistan , which, though, was allowed by Hon'ble Sindh High Court, vide judgment dated 13.03.2019, yet it was challenged in Civil Petitions Nos. 343K, 344-K and 345-K of 2019, which were disposed of by the august Supreme Court of Pakistan, vide judgment dated 30.10.2019 in terms that the detained vehicles may be released upon furnishing export certificates issued by the concerned authority of the exporting country , namely , Japan, in respect of the imported vehicles and if such certificate describe the imported vehicles as 'van' then subject to verification of such certificates from the issuing authority , the petitioners shall allow clearance of the vehicles in accordance with law. The relevant judgment for ready reference is reproduced herein below:- "By consent, it is ordered that the detain ed vehicles of the respondents may be released upon the respondents' finishing to the petitioners 'export certifica tes' issued by the concerned authority of the exporting country , namely , Japan in respect of the imported vehicles in accordance with the terms prescribed in public notice dated 09.09.2014 issued by the petitioners. If such certificates describe the imported vehicles as vans then subject to verification of such certificate from the issuing authority , the petitioners shall allow clearance of the vehicles in accordance with law . These petitions are disposed of in the above terms."
5. Learned counsel for the parties when confronted with the above situation could not controvert the same, therefore, we, while deriving wisdom from the aforesaid judgment of the Hon'ble apex Court, feel no hesitation to give alike treatment to the instant petition. Resultantly , the instant writ petition is disposed of in I the terms, mentioned in the aforesaid judgment of the Hon'ble apex Court.