Maaz Waheed

Maaz Waheed is a Partner based in Raja Mohammed Akram & Co’s Karachi office. He is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan and is a Certified Civil/ Commercial Mediator accredited by the Singapore International Mediation Institute. He began his practice of law in 2014 with a particular focus on civil, commercial and criminal (white collar crime) litigation. Prior to joining Raja Mohammed Akram & Co, Maaz was an associate at MCAS&W Law Associates (formerly known as Muneer A. Malik & Co).

Maaz maintains expertise in disputes in relation to civil and commercial transactions, intellectual property law, tax laws and constitutional matters. Over the years Maaz has been engaged in and has successfully handled infringement and passing off proceedings pertaining to intellectual property disputes, and has represented numerous parties before the Intellectual Property Tribunal and the High Court, as well as before the Trade Mark and Copy Rights Registry, Karachi, for purposes of seeking trademark and copyright registrations. Further, Maaz has successfully handled disputes in relation to tenders floated by the federal and the provincial governments under the public procurement laws, and has represented numerous parties before SPPRA and the High Court. Moreover, Maaz also possesses significant experience in cases of constitutional importance, and particularly in challenging the vires of various laws, including certain provisions in the Advertisement By-Laws 2003 (amended 2006) enacted by the City Government Karachi/ KMC dealing with the shop board tax, and the Finance Act, 2019, where provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, dealing with tax credit on investment in plant and machinery, were amended.

Maaz has been engaged in and has successfully handled trade organization disputes, in specific the election disputes of trade organizations regulated and governed under the Trade Organization Act, 2013, and the Rules made therein under, and has represented various individuals as well as trade organizations before the Directorate General of Trade Organization and the High Court. Further, Maaz has successfully handled commercial and shipping cases pertaining to short landing of cargo, ownership of cargo, and disputes in relation to retention of containers and the demurrage charges. In addition to the above, Maaz has a wide civil law practice in other areas of law such as the labour and employment matters, mental health matters, election matters, anti-dumping duties laws, family laws, amongst others.

Additionally, Maaz has also successfully represented numerous clients in whit-collar litigation including bail and trial proceedings in relation to NAB, FIA and Narcotics. Further, Maaz is also actively involved in corporate, transactional and regulatory matters, including but not limited to, incorporation of companies with SECP, sales tax and income tax filing, contract management including conducting due diligence of property documents, employment contracts, shareholders agreements, amongst others.

Previously, Maaz had been affiliated with the Szabist School of Law – LLB – University of London, International Program, as a visiting faculty for Commercial Law.

• Represented numerous importers and distributor of paper and paper board challenging the anti-dumping duties imposed by the National Tariff Commission, before the Anti-Dumping Appellate Tribunal and the High Courts of Sindh and Islamabad.
• Representing Hyundai Nishat Motors, a private limited company, challenging the vires of certain provisions of the Advertisement By-Laws 2003 (amended 2006) enacted by the City Government Karachi/ KMC, pursuant to which payment of shop board tax is sought by the District Municipal Corporation (South) Karachi; interim relief has been granted in favor of the client.
• Representing various textile mills operating in Pakistan challenging the amendments to Section 65B of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, dealing with the tax credits on investments in plant and machinery, vide the Finance Act, 2019; interim relief has been granted in favor of the clients.
• Successfully represented an office bearer of a housing society in 2nd post arrest bail application, the client was arrested by the NAB authorities pursuant to a NAB reference against the office bearers of the housing society in view of an alleged embezzlement of the funds of the housing society; bail granted.
• Successfully represented M/S Mansoor Engineering Services, challenging four Tenders/NITs floated by the Karachi Development Authority for construction of ten pedestrian bridges across Karachi; the procurement process in all four tenders was declared as mis-procurement and the procuring agency was directed to freshly initiate the procurement process.
• Successfully represented a paper merchant/ member of the All Pakistan Paper Merchant Association challenging 36 bogus/sham voters included in the voters list issued in line with the elections of the association, regulated by the Directorate General of Trade Organization; all 36 voters were held to be ineligible to vote.
• Successfully defended the All Pakistan Customs Agents Association in a petition filed against it before the Honourable Sindh High Court, whereby nominations sent by association for the FPCCI elections were challenged; the petition was dismissed as not maintainable.
• Successfully defendant an importer in a suit filed against him by a shipping line seeking detention charges for the container detained by the Export Processing Zone Authority allegedly on account of the fact that the imported goods are banned goods; the suit was dismissed.
• Representing members of the executive committee of the Pakistan International Freight Forwarders Association in challenging the decision of the election commission to allow retired members of the executive committee to cast vote in the office bearer elections; interim relief has been granted in favor of the clients.