KARACHI: A division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday forwarded the petition against implementation of the Sugar Inquiry Commission report to the Chief Justice of SHC for constitution of a special bench to hear the matter.

The division bench, headed by Justice Khadim Hussain Sheikh, was hearing the petition of sugar mills against the inquiry commission, which probed the high sugar price in the country.

The bench forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice of SHC for forming a special bench before it put off the hearing of the petition for an indefinite period.

Earlier during the hearing, Makhdoom Ali Khan appeared on behalf of the sugar mills and Additional Attorney-General Kashif Paracha appeared on behalf of the Federation.

It may be recalled that the SHC had stayed the sugar inquiry commission report and its implementation after the sugar mills moved the court.

However, the Supreme Court vacated the stay order of the SHC, which restrained the federal government and others from taking action against the sugar mills in the light of the findings of the inquiry commission.

The Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills and around 19 other mills of the province moved the SHC against the report of the inquiry commission against cartelisation and price hike of sugar and pleaded to quash the report.

The sugar mills submitted that as a consequence of the observations made in the inquiry report and the ensuing media debates on the subject, a perception had been created that all the sugar mills were indulging in unlawful activities.

The mills maintained that such a perception had been detrimental to the petitioners' business and in breach of Article 17 of the Constitution.

The sugar mills contended that the commission was not properly constituted in accordance with the relevant legislation, and it included members who had already made up their minds against the sugar mills as they were also members of an earlier inquiry committee which had been constituted for the same purpose.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020