Ch Sugar Mills’ petition disposed off

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday extended no relief to Chaudhry Sugar Mills, owned by the Sharif family, and directed to file a representation before the Ministry of Commerce and Trade on non-provision of subsidy on sugar export.

The defence counsel contended in the petition that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had not provided the freight support subsidy to the petitioner (mills) on the export of sugar in 2017. He said the mills had failed to start crushing sugarcane due to non-provision of the subsidy, which was estimated at over Rs80 million. The counsel has asked the court to order the SBP to release the withheld subsidy to the mills.

The SBP’s counsel argued that the petition was not maintainable before the high court as it involved inquiry of facts relating to the past period. He pointed out that the sugar mills, to become eligible for the subsidy, were supposed to start crushing season by Nov 30, 2017, which the petitioner had not done. Later, Justice Ayesha A Malik of LHC observed that the petitioner/mills needed to file a representation before the Ministry of Commerce for the redressal of its grievances.