Customers will get some relief in the prices of imported cars as Sindh High Court (SHC) has annulled the SRO 1035 (1). The government issued this SRO back in October 2017 which saw an increased regulatory duty on imports of more than 731 items. As a result prices of several items, including cars surged drastically.
The Case
Audi Pakistan, Porsche and BMW Pakistan went to the court to appeal against this SRO. The case by these automobile giants was filed in Lahore and Sindh High courts. SHC has finally come to a decision where the SRO was declared null and void.
As per the decision, no one can ask for the increased regulatory duty based on SRO 1035 anymore. People who have paid extra regulatory duties based on this SRO will get a refund. Furthermore, the government has a month’s time to appeal the court’s decision.
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The Decision
According to SHC, the body that issued this SRO didn’t have the full authority to make such decisions. However, it was made and several items’ prices sky-rocketed. According to this SRO, the regulatory duty on imports was increased by 60%-80% in October 2017. As a result, price of Audi Q5 increased from Rs 16.5 million to Rs 19.5 million. Several other models also saw a huge increase in prices.
However, the prices will now come down as the SRO has been declared illegal. The prices of cars and other items will now stand at what they were before this SRO was issued.
Lahore High Court is also expected to issue a similar decision. The hearing of the case in LHC is set to be on 24th February.
You can view complete list of all 731 items here.
what are other 730 items.!
No, no, no. The order itself is not active. The high court itself suspended the effect of the order by 30 days to give enough time for an appeal to be filed by interested parties until which time the interim order issued a few months back will stay effective.
Obviously an appeal will be filed in the Supreme court meaning the High court order will be set aside pending the Supreme court’s decision. If the supreme court upholds the high court judgment then no SRO and RD. If the supreme court doesn’t then the RD and SRO are back on.
Propk always pretend to be good journalist but they are worst. They just copy paste news.
useless article. no in-dept analysis either