Chattogram Custom House is struggling to clear a decades-old litigation backlog, with some revenue disputes remaining unresolved for 20 to 30 years, according to updated information from its Legal Department as of June 2026.
The backlog involves Tk2,679 crore in customs and VAT revenue across 10,459 pending cases, with the High Court accounting for the largest share. A total of 9,283 cases involving Tk2,258 crore 36 lakh 20 thousand are pending there.
The High Court cases make up about 89 per cent of all pending cases and nearly 84 per cent of the revenue locked in litigation.
Another Tk281 crore 46 lakh 70 thousand is tied up in 863 cases at the Appellate Tribunal, Tk11 crore 84 lakh in 148 cases at the Appellate Commissionerate and Tk109 crore 63 lakh 90 thousand in 161 cases at the Appellate Division.
The backlog continues to grow as new cases are filed. In June alone, 53 new cases involving Tk8 crore 65 lakh in revenue were filed. Only one case, involving Tk54 lakh, was settled during the month.
10,459 cases, Tk2,679cr stuck
The long-running case involving Akij Shipping Lines Limited highlights the problem. The company imported a seagoing ship, MV Heritage, from Dubai in 2016 and received duty-VAT exemption under an SRO during temporary customs clearance.
A post-clearance audit later found that the SRO used for the benefit was from 2013 and had been cancelled on 5 June 2014.
Chattogram Custom House then determined that about Tk18.25 crore in VAT was recoverable on the ship at the rate of 15 per cent. Akij Shipping filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2017 against the decision.
Almost nine years later, the case remains unsettled, leaving the VAT amount stuck.
Thousands of cases are pending before the High Court, Appellate Tribunal, Appellate Commissionerate and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), keeping government revenue tied up in litigation.
HS code disputes add to backlog
A major share of the disputes involves classification of imported goods under Harmonised System (HS) codes.
Mobile operator Orascom has around Tk27.2 crore in revenue tied up in a dispute over HS codes declared for telecommunications equipment and cables.
In 2012, Orascom declared HS code 8517.61.00 for a consignment and sought customs clearance. The customs officer proposed HS code 8544.20.00 for the cable instead.
As the proposed classification increased duty liability, the company filed two separate writ petitions in the High Court in August 2012. Both cases remain pending.
Customs officials said cases usually arise from duty evasion, fraud, false declarations or incorrect HS-code classification. Importers can appeal to the Appellate Commissionerate, Appellate Tribunal, High Court and Appellate Division, but many move directly to the High Court through writ petitions, prolonging the process.
Manpower shortage slows case disposal
Deputy Commissioner of the Law Branch of the Chattogram Custom House Ahmedur Reza Chowdhury said manpower shortages and the volume of litigation are major reasons for delays.
He said opposing parties sometimes use legal strategies to defer hearings, while a limited number of customs officials and lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office handle thousands of cases.
“Because of the shortage of manpower, customs has to prioritise cases involving large amounts of revenue,” he said.
He said document management is another challenge, as case files are prepared through around 20 customs branches where relevant documents are kept. The customs house also lacks specialised legal professionals, with only four to five revenue officers coordinating cases before the High Court and Appellate Tribunal.
A former director of the Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mahfuzul Haque Shah said traders often do not get adequate opportunities to present their positions in customs disputes, leading to additional duties, penalties and risks of auction if goods remain unreleased.
“Many traders have gone bankrupt because these problems were not resolved for a long time,” he said.
President of the Bangladesh Maritime Law Society (BMLS) and Supreme Court advocate Mohiuddin Abdul Kader said many cases could be settled faster if customs authorities took timely initiatives.
“The main problem of the customs authorities is that they do not want to hear the rules on time. They are late. The government Attorney General’s Office handles the cases, and there is no additional cost to the customs. They can quickly prepare the files and complete the hearing if they want to. But they do not want to do that,” he told TIMES of Bangladesh.
He said some unscrupulous importers exploit prolonged litigation by obtaining goods through allegedly false documents or unlawful benefits and allowing cases to continue for years.
“Unscrupulous traders take away the goods with a bank guarantee. The longer the case is delayed, the more the unscrupulous importer benefits. If customs does not take the initiative, the hearing will not take place. As a result, the bank continues to receive the guarantee, and the state is deprived of its due revenue,” he said.
He also identified the lack of effective rule of law and an inadequate number of judicial benches as factors behind prolonged litigation. For the government, he said, the key issue is not who wins or loses a customs dispute, but how quickly it is resolved.
