Special Court (Customs, Taxation & Anti-Smuggling)
Tries customs, taxation and anti-smuggling offences.
The forum
These Special Courts try offences under the customs and related revenue legislation, sitting in the major ports and commercial cities. These courts try offences under the customs and related revenue legislation, and sit in the ports and commercial centres where that work arises. Confiscation and release of goods often runs in parallel with the prosecution.
Where it sits
The principal seat is Karachi. It also sits at Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta, Hyderabad and Sukkur. A date given at one is not a date at another, which is why the bench belongs in the record with the date.
What a firm has to track
The record matters more than usual: what was produced, what was adjourned for, what the court asked for next. A note left with the hearing is worth more than a note written up later. Goods sitting in a warehouse make this the forum where delay costs the client money every week. A firm has to be able to say what the last order was and what the court asked for next, from the record, without opening the file.
The date the court gives is a fact. Whoever is standing there records it in CaseMate before they leave the building, and the office acknowledges it — it does not wait to be approved.
The firm decides who goes to the next hearing, against the hearing itself. A matter at a distant bench is a travel arrangement, not a line in a list.
Every previous date, its outcome and the note taken at the time — so a partner can be answered without opening the file.
A hearing in the past with nothing recorded against it is the one thing a diary must never hide. CaseMate lists them separately.
Other courts in the same work
Start with today's list.
Set your firm up in a couple of minutes, enter the cases you are running this week, and let your associates report from court.