Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Khwaja Muhammmad Sharif, observing that the Federal and provincial governments should not be blackmailed by the mills mafia on sugar crisis, has issued notice to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) Chairman to appear before court on August 20 the with relevant record.
Hearing suo motu proceedings concerning the prevailing sugar crisis here on Wednesday, the Chief Justice said that those responsible for sugar crisis required to be dealt with iron hands. The Chief Justice said that a sugar crisis had also surfaced during the tenure of General Pervez Musharraf (Retd).
He referred the matter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which nabbed those responsible and resolved the crisis. He said that the rulers should not be blackmailed by the sugar mills owners because it was the responsibility of the government to ensure availability of the essential commodities at fair prices. The people would not vote for the ruling parties during the forthcoming elections in case they failed to resolve the sugar crisis amicably, he observed.
He said that apparently there was no co-ordination within the Federal government. The Prime Minister had ordered a crackdown on those responsible for sugar crisis, but Federal Industries Minister had ordered the release for those arrested during the crackdown, he said.
The Chief Justice said the fate of hundreds of thousands of tons of sugar, seized during the crackdown, was also not known. Nobody knew whether it had been sealed or had been brought to the market for sale, he said. Attorney General Sardar Latif Khan Khosa informed the court that 83 sugar mills were operating in the country.
Of these 45 were in Punjab, 31 in Sindh and seven in NWFP. The sugar crisis was the result of shortfall in production, he said, adding that only 60 million tons sugar had been produced this year as against the annual consumption of eight million tons. Sugar prices had shot up in the local market after the international price increased to Rs 60 per kilogram.
The Prime Minister had, however, ordered stern action for keeping the prices of foodstuffs under control, he said. He said special magistrates had only seized huge stocks of sugar and also arrested mill owners and dealers during the raids.
He said that the government was giving Rs 98 million subsidy on sugar, which would be sold at the rate Rs 49.50 in the open market and Rs 38 per kilogram at the utility stores. An officer, appearing on behalf of the Food Ministry, said that the condition to produce national identity cards from the utility stores had been waived.
A consumer could, however, buy only two kilograms of sugar, he added. The chief justice expressed apprehension that sale of sugar at utility stores would create law and order problems. There would be long queues and not more than five million people would be able to benefit from the sale of sugar at the utility stores out of 160 million population of the country.
Acting Advocate General of Punjab Hanif Khatana opposed the Federal government''s proposal to sell sugar at the rate of Rs 49.50 in the open market. He said that the Punjab government had purchased sugar at the rate of Rs 40 per kilogram and would make it available at the same price in the Ramazan Bazars.
He said that Punjab government had seized 230,000 tons of sugar during raids. It had disposed of 30,000 tons of seized sugar in the market. Punjab Food Secretary Irfan Elahi said that sugar crisis had surfaced during the past two or three weeks. The provincial government was seized of the matter and was taking steps to resolve it. Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case to August 26.
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