Supreme Court directs LHC to decide sugar price case within a month

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Lahore High Court (LHC) to decide the case pertaining to fixing of sugar price within a month. 

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, heard the petition of the Federation filed through the Ministry of National Food Security and Research versus various sugar mills.

The court directed the Lahore High Court to conduct the proceedings on the case on a daily basis and decide the case within a month.

The Lahore High Court has granted a stay to the sugar millers on the implementation of a notification issued by the federal government on fixing the price of sugar while the Punjab government the other day moved the learned high court to withdraw its stay.

During the hearing, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the Supreme Court that sugar mill owners had challenged the price fixed by the federal government in the Lahore High Court and the learned high court had granted a stay to the millers while suspending the notifications of provincial governments. He requested the court to order the submission of a report on the difference in sugar prices to the Registrar’s office of the apex court.

Justice Ijazul Ahsen, however, questioned the law officer as to how they could pass such an order when the matter is sub-judice before the learned Lahore High Court. “Let the high court first decide the case,” Justice Ahsen remarked.

The Additional Attorney General submitted the government has fixed the price of sugar at Rs98 per kilo but the mill owners are selling the commodity at Rs200 per kilo. He further submitted that with the passage of time, there would be difficulty in the recoveries. “Whether the millers will flee with their respective sugar mills,” Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked and asked the law officer to wait for the high court’s final decision. Counsels for the sugar millers told the court that the learned high court had fixed the next hearing for September 20. The court subsequently ordered the high court to hear the case on a daily basis and announce the verdict in 30 days and adjourned the hearing for date-in-office.