Supreme Court takes up price hike case today

11 Oct, 2007

Federal and provincial governments will submit their reports in the Supreme Court on Thursday about the measures taken by them to check the recent price hike of essential commodities in the country.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will hear a suo motu notice concerning the federal and provincial governments' failure to check increase in the price of commodities of daily use during the holy month of Ramadan.
The court had sent notices to commissioner Islamabad, DCO, Rawalpindi, federal secretaries ministries of Agriculture, Finance, Commerce and Industries and Chairman Capital Development Authority, Inspector Generals of Police, Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, prosecutor generals, Punjab and NAB, and deputy attorney general.
The court had directed the five IGPs to form special teams of competent and honest officers to check hoarding and profiteering of the essential commodities like sugar, flour, rice and cooking oil in their respective provinces and register criminal cases against hoarders and profiteers.
During hearing of this case last Monday, Chief Justice Chaudhry observed that the government was spending billions of rupees on its publicity but it did not provide any relief to the common man during the month of Ramadan.
Chairman CDA is expected to submit his report to the court about the allotment of about five hundred agriculture forms in the federal capital territory for the purpose of production of vegetables, fruits and dairy products.
The court had directed CDA to cancel the allotment of all those agriculture forms, which were being used for other than agriculture purpose. President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Chairman Senate Mohammadmian Soomro, leader of the house Waseem Sajjad and other big guns of the present government had been allotted agriculture forms, which were being used mainly as form house.
The other members of the bench are Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Shakirullah Jan. The same bench will also hear cases of "missing persons" today during which Defence Secretary and the Interior Secretary submit their reports about the recovery of the missing persons.

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