LHC orders sealing of three sugar mills if still operating

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered three sessions judges to seal three sugar mills of the Sharif family if they are still operating despite restraining order of the Supreme Court.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, said if the mills were still operational, their manufacturing process should be sealed immediately. The bench also directed the district police concerned to accompany the sessions judges and render full support in carrying out the inspection of the mills.

On February 9, the SC had ordered suspending operations of these mills and remanded the case to the LHC on an application, filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Jahangir Tareen.

On Tuesday, appearing before the court on behalf of Tareen, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan submitted that the SC restraining order was not being complied with and the administration of all three mills including Chaudhry Sugar Mills Ltd (Rahim Yar Khan), Ittefaq Sugar Mills (Bahawalpur), and Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills (Muzaffargarh) were still operational and carrying out manufacturing activities. He submitted that the media was also reporting the same.

The bench, in its written order, held that before proceeding further, we want to be fully satisfied that the SC order was being implemented in letter and spirit. “In order to verify the ground position, we depute district & sessions judges to immediately verify whether the said mills are in operation,” the order said.

The bench deputed D&SJs of Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Multan, directing them to keep in mind that the restraining orders, issued by the SC, which were to take effect from Feb 12, were being implemented.

In case the D&SJs find that the mills were still in operation, they would immediately seal the manufacturing process of the mills, the order said. The DPOs/ RPOs concerned are directed to accompany the D&SJs and render full support in carrying out the verification/ inspection as directed by the court, the order said.

The court also directed that senior most officers of the Punjab industries department in the said districts should accompany the D&SJs and render full assistance regarding the technical aspects of the inspection/ verification.

The D&SJs should submit their reports, duly co-signed by the DPO/ representative of the industries department and the representative of the mills management within three days, the court said.

The bench further held that from February 20, the proceedings of the case would be held on day-to-day basis.

On Oct 28, 2017, a division bench of the LHC maintained the status quo in the matter of shifting five sugar mills, owned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and their relatives.

On Oct 10, a single bench, headed by Justice Ayesha A Malik, declared illegal the relocation of Chaudhry Sugar Mills, Ittefaq Sugar Mills in Sahiwal, Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills in Nankana Sahib, Abdullah (Yousaf) Sugar Mills in Sargodha and Abdullah Sugar Mills in Depalpur to other districts.

Jahangir Tareen, in his petition, alleged that the Sharif family wanted to establish new mills under the garb of shifting their old mills, which was illegal and banned under the relevant policy.