LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Tuesday stopped the punitive action against the sugar productions units of estranged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen.
The business had challenged the fixing of the ex-mill price of the commodity. Hearing which, the court served notices on the federal and Punjab governments directing them to submit their responses.
Justice Risal Hassan Syed also halted the action against the JDW-Group, a conglomerate owned by Tareen.
He issued the directive while hearing a petition filed by the JK Sugar Mills (Pvt.) Ltd. and JDW Sugar Mills.
Deputy Attorney General Asad Ali Bajwa appeared before the court representing the Centre and opposed the petition on its behalf.
He told the court that the government fixed the sugar ex-mill rate after taking into consideration 32 sugar producers. He maintained that the government fixed the price after fulfilling all the legal requirements.
In April, the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association too had rejected the ex-mill and retail price of sugar fixed by the Punjab government.
“We reject the rates fixed by the government. However, if the government want to implement this forcibly, it must take responsibility of paying the salaries of mills staff, 17 per cent sales tax levied on the sale of sugar and other financial liabilities of the project from where it would pick the stock,” PSMA Punjab chief Javed Kayani told reporters at a news conference.
