LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed a civil miscellaneous application submitted by the Punjab chapter of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), seeking stay order against the LHC’s verdict fixing sugar price at Rs 40 per kilogramme.
The bench consisted of Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry. Shahid Karim advocate, counsel for the PSMA, submitted that the association had so far not received an attested copy of the LHC’s verdict on sugar price, which was required to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The counsel said the High Court had issued a short order regarding the sugar price and its detailed judgment was pending so the order could not be challenged before the SC. The counsel requested the court to suspend the earlier order until provision of an attested copy of the order.
The bench dismissed the application asking the PSMA’s counsel to collect the copy of the detailed judgment on Tuesday (today). Online adds: The PSMA had submitted before the court that it will challenge the court’s verdict before the Supreme Court and it (court) should suspend the implementation of its order because it was a one-sided verdict. The petition said sugar was not available in the market, which was not only causing inconvenience to people but mill owners were also facing financial losses.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Punjab chapter of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Javed Kayani, told a private TV channel that sugar mill owners would move the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.
He said several meetings had been held with the Punjab government but talks were not successful as the provincial government said that the court’s decision had to be implemented while the PSMA categorically told the government it was not possible to implement the court’s decision. “We cannot recover even the cost of procuring sugarcane if we sell our products at the rate fixed by the court,” he said. He said the federal government had failed to release sufficient quantity of sugar from time to time.
Meanwhile, the Punjab law minister told a private TV channel that the court should issue contempt of court notices to mill owners for defying court’s order. He said the Punjab government did not take over sugar stocks but police officials were deployed at sugar mills to prevent movement of sugar from mills. He said dealers were ready to sell sugar at Rs 40 per kg if they got the commodity at Rs 36 per kg.
APP adds: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan urged the Lahore High Court on Monday to provide the services of bailiff so that the stocks of sugar mills could be bought at Rs 36 per kg.
Talking to media persons, he regretted that the sugar millers were not cooperating with the government and refusing to sell sugar at Rs 36 per kg. ìNow the option left is to forcefully take over about 500,000 tons of sugar lying in various godowns. The government is hesitant to occupy sugar stocks on its own as the owners can dispute the recovered figures. To avoid any controversy, bailiffs should be provided to the Punjab to forcefully occupy the stocks and make sugar available in the market at Rs 40 per kg,î the minister said.
Sanaullah said: ìThe Punjab is serious in implementing the orders of the Lahore High Court. The court should serve contempt of court notices to sugar barons and force them to cooperate in selling sugar at Rs 40 per kg, he added.
source : www.thenews.com.pk
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