JUDGMENT

SHAMS MEHMOOD MIRZA, JUSTICE:-- This reference application under section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969 (the Act) seeks opinion of this Court on the following questions of law arising out of order dated 31.03.2022 passed by the Customs Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal):1. Whether the learned Tribunal has erred in failing to appreciate that before the Finance Act, 1999, and during the period in question, there were no provisions in the Customs Act, 1969, which made the directors of a company liable for the company’s obligation to pay Customs Duties, and the show-cause notice in the instant case set out no legal or factual basis for holding directors to be so liable?2. Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned Tribunal has wrongly imposed liability on the Applicant as a legal heir of Begum Birjees Zaheer Abbas by holding that the latter was a defaulter presumably by virtue of being a director of the Company during the relevant period?2. Brief facts of the case are that ...