Sindh CM Baqar gives AG office two days to release Rs1bn for payment of duties on 30 buses

KARACHI: While the provincial government has sanctioned Rs1 billion in the head of customs duty for 30 buses imported from China, the office of the Accountant General (AG), Sindh, has refused to release the amount even after clear directives from the caretaker chief minister, it emerged on Monday.

The row between the provincial government and the federal-run AG Office came to light when caretaker Sindh CM retired Justice Maqbool Baqar issued a strong-worded statement and warned it to release the amount within two days.

The CM took serious notice of the delay in the release of vehicles from the Karachi port and warned the AG Sindh not to drag its feet in the endorsement of the required amount released by the provincial government for the payment of duties and levies on the imported vehicles.

The buses imported by the Sindh government from China are gathering dust at the Karachi port for almost three months as the AG Sindh, the chief accounting representative of the federal government in the province, has refused to accept the endorsement of Rs1bn released by the provincial governments and endorsed by the Treasury Office Karachi for the payment of duties and levies on them.

“If any decay or fault is accrued to the buses, the Accountant General will be held responsible”, the CM said in a statement issued from the CM House.

Justice Baqar advised the AG Sindh to resolve the issue of payment within the next two days; otherwise, it would be held responsible for the decay and faults in the buses.

The CM said that the buses had already landed at the Karachi port and the provincial government had released the required amount of Rs1000 million endorsed by the Treasury Office, Karachi but the AG Sindh refused to accept the endorsement.

Sources said that the interim provincial government had been approaching the federal government to resolve the controversy with the AG Sindh office for the past one month, but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2023