SHC seeks comments of chief secy,sugar cane commissioner

Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to officials, including the provincial chief secretary and cane commissioner, over a petition seeking action against sugar mill owners refusing to pay growers at official rates.
The petitioner, the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, had specifically sought action against 25 sugar mill owners for not honouring the notified sugarcane price of Rs182 per 40 kilograms.
The chamber’s president, Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, submitted that the SHC had, on May 28, 2014, ordered the formation of a committee to fix a fair and reasonable ex-factory price of sugar.
The chamber’s counsel, Syed Mureed Ali Shah, submitted that after several rounds of discussion with all stakeholders the committee had set the minimum support price for crushing season 2014-15 at Rs182 per 40kg.
On November 7, 2014, the agriculture secretary had issued an official notification approving the proposed minimum price and announcing that the crushing season would start from November 14.
The counsel submitted that despite the official notification, a majority of sugar mill owners were not paying the notified sugarcane price. He said that of a total of 31, only six sugar mills were honouring the notified rates, while the remaining 25 were paying around Rs150 to Rs155 per 40kg.
He prayed the court to consider the crippling financial repercussions for growers and urged for binding orders to the government for implementation of the notified rates.
The SHC division bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, observed that sugar mill owners were not made party in the petition and directed the counsel to file an amended title citing them as respondents.
The counsel undertook to file the amended title within three days and the court issued notices to the cane commissioner, chief secretary and others for the next hearing, expected to be within two weeks.