Commerce ministry put on notice on plea against ban on onion export

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the ministry of commerce, plant protection department and others on a petition of an exporter against imposition of ban on the exports of onions and bananas.

The petitioner, Syeda Saleha Khalid, in her plea assailed the national food and research department’s temporary ban on the export of onions and bananas. She submitted that the plant protection department had issued directives to its quarantine officers not to issue phytosanitary certificates to onion and banana exporters keeping in view of shortage of crops in the country.

The petitioner’s counsel, Jibran Nasir, submitted that the respondent’s order with regard to a temporary ban on the export of onions and bananas was unlawful and in violation of the export policy. He submitted that the petitioner had to export onions to Sri Lanka and UAE and due to non-issuance of phytosanitary certificates, her consignments were not being allowed to proceed further.

The counsel submitted that there was no policy decision with regard to the ban on the export of onions and banana by the federal government, which was the ultimate authority to decide exports and imports of the country.

The high court was requested to declare that the restriction placed on the issuance of phytosanitary certificates by the plant protection department for the export of onions and bananas was unlawful and direct the plant protection department to issue phytosanitary certificates to the petitioner’s company for the export of onions.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi after the preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the ministry of commerce, plant protection department and others and called their comments on March 26.

The bench also observed that it was expected in the meantime that the plant protection department may decide the representation of the petitioner for the issuance of phytosanitary certificate as per the law.