HC suspends commerce ministry letter on bonded facilities for yarn imports

The High Court has suspended for three months the effectiveness of a commerce ministry official request letter that had stayed the implementation of a National Board of Revenue (NBR) directive withdrawing bonded warehouse facilities for imports of 10-30 single count cotton yarn.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi and Justice Fatema Anwar passed the order on Thursday after a preliminary hearing on a writ petition filed by Arif Knit Spin Ltd, a yarn manufacturing unit of NR Group, and six other companies challenging the legality of the ministry’s order.
The court also issued a rule asking why the ministry’s office order dated 13 September should not be declared illegal, without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
According to the writ petition, the NBR’s second secretary (Customs: Export and Bond) issued an order on 7 September 
withdrawing bonded warehouse facilities for imports of 10-30 count cotton yarn. The order also made bank guarantees mandatory for such imports.

Six days later, on 13 September, the deputy chief of the ministry’s Export Wing-8 signed an office order suspending the implementation of the NBR directive.
The companies subsequently filed the writ petition challenging the commerce ministry’s order.
The petition named 12 respondents, including the secretaries of the ministries of commerce, finance, and textiles and jute. 
Others include the governor of Bangladesh Bank, the chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, the NBR chairman, the director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, and the commissioners of the Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chattogram Customs Bond Commissionerates.
Md Kaisaruzzaman, a partner at Equity Legal Alliance and counsel for the petitioners, confirmed the development.