Setting aside the orders of Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered sugar mills owners to release the stock of the commodity as withholding of stocks cause shortages in the market.
The Ashraf Sugar Mills and others represented by counsel Jawad Hassan argued that the order in question was set aside because section 6(1) of the ordinance dealt with unreasonably restrictive trade practices and to prove that there had to be an agreement.
The Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) failed to show that there was or is any agreement between the sugar mills, saying there was no evidence of any agreement as per section 6(1) of the ordinance and no price fixation told in the show-cause notice or evidence.
Hassan said freedom of trade was guaranteed as a fundamental right under article 18 of the Constitution and was available to the mills and added that the order stemmed from a roving and fishing inquiry not permitted under the law.
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