Wheat procurement: LHC seeks details of Punjab cabinet’s decision

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought details of the Punjab cabinet decision on wheat procurement.

The court directed the provincial law officer to apprise the court about the decision made by the cabinet about wheat procurement on the next date of hearing and adjourned further proceedings for a week.

The court also observed that it would not intervene in the policy matters of the government.

Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by lawyer Farhat Manzoor Chandio, seeking directions to the government to start wheat buying at the fixed support price from the farmers in the province.

The petitioner, through his petition, argued that although the Punjab government had announced wheat procurement policy with a fixed support price of Rs 3900 per

40kg, it did not begin purchasing wheat from farmers as scheduled on April 22.

Consequently, farmers were compelled to sell their wheat at lower prices to the mafia due to the delay, he added.