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Constitutional Petition No.345 of 1986, decided on 26th March, 1987.

---S.156(1)--Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199--Constitutional jurisdiction, exercise of-- Laches--Question of ownership of foreign currency seized by Customs Authorities--Question of fact, considered by Collector Customs and by Central Board of Revenue in appeal- Order passed by authorities, not arbitrary or capricious--Petition filed after lapse of 13 months without any reasonable explanation--Huge amount of foreign currency involved--Petition, held, suffered from serious laches and was not sustainable--Dismissed in limine.

K.M. Nadeem for Petitioner.

--This Petition arises out of three orders passed by Collector of Customs on 11-12-1983, by the Second Secretary of C.B.R. on 7-6-1984 and by the Federal Government on 19-2-1985 whereby the currency in the form of Iranian Riyals seized on 29-8-1982 from an unidentified suitcase at Karachi Airport was confiscated and the claim of the Petitioner that he was the owner of the same was rejected on the ground that he has not been able to establish his case as to the ownership of the currency.

The question whether the Petitioner was the owner of the currency or not is a question of fact and it has received consideration at the hands of the Collector in original case and at the hands of Second Secretary in appeal and there is no material before us which could establish that the orders passed by these authorities are arbitrary or capricious in any manner. Moreover, the claim of the Petitioner has also received consideration from the Central Government and the same has also been found to be untenable. They have come to the conclusion that the Petitioner had cleverly planted to own the currency in the event of its seizure by the Customs Authorities.

The amount of foreign currency involved was about eleven crore Iranian Riyals and it is reasonable for the custom authorities to conclude that a person who was the owner of such a huge amount of foreign currency could not have waited for a period of six days from 29-8-1982 to 3-9-1982 for making his claim to the said currency if he was really the owner of the same.

We are further of the view that the Petition suffers from serious laches as the final 'order was passed on 19-2-1985 whereas this petition was filed on 3-4-1986 after a period of more than 13 months without any reasonable explanation as to why all this time was allowed to lapse by the Petitioner who claim to be the owner of eleven crore Iranian Riyals.

This Petition is not found to be sustainable and is hereby dismissed in limine. Mr. Nadeem states that the Petitioner wants to establish his claim through a civil suit. Let him do so if he has really sufficient evidence to establish his claim after such a long time and in spite of the orders passed against him by custom.

S.A./G-14/K Petition dismissed.

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