LAHORE: Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday denied relief to Chaudhry Sugar Mills, owned by the Sharif family, and directed it to file a representation before the ministry of commerce and trade for the issue of non-provision of subsidy on sugar export.

Earlier, the mills’ counsel contended that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had not provided the freight support subsidy to the petitioner/mills on the export of sugar in 2017. He said the mills had failed to start crushing of sugarcane due to non-provision of the subsidy over Rs 80 million. He therefore asked the court to direct the SBP to release the withheld subsidy to the mills.

The counsel of SBP argued that the petition was not maintainable as it involved inquiry of facts relating to the past period. He pointed out that the sugar mills, to become eligible for the subsidy, were supposed to start crushing season by November 30, 2017, which the petitioner had not done.

After both the sides, Justice Ayesha observed that the petitioner/mills needed to file a representation before the ministry of commerce for the redressal of its grievance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021