SHC sets 10-day deadline to announce milk prices

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued a 10-day deadline to the Karachi commissioner for notifying the milk prices after resolving the issue by conferring with dairy farmers, retailers and other stakeholders.

Hearing a petition of the Dairy Farmers Association regarding increase in milk prices, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi observed that there should be some mechanism under which people can buy milk on affordable prices.

The city commissioner submitted the minutes of the meeting held with the stakeholders with regard to fixing milk prices. He said the meeting largely decided on fixing the milk price at Rs95 a litre, but retailers refused it because they want more profit margin.

Consumer rights activist Imran Shahzad informed the court that milk vendors were selling the product for Rs90 to Rs100 in violation of the notified price fixed by the government. The provincial law officer said milk price was fixed at Rs85 a litre after consulting with all the stakeholders.

Dairy farmers informed the bench that milk suppliers are incurring losses and that they are unable to sell the product at the government’s notified rate. The court directed the city commissioner to notify the milk price after consulting with all the stakeholders, including dairy farmers and milk retailers, and submit a report within 10 days.  

TV channel restrained

The SHC restrained a private TV channel from airing any news against a Karachi University lecturer who had filed a petition a day earlier seeking an injunction against a media campaign of a private TV channel over a student accusing him of harassment.

After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the court issued notices to the deputy attorney general, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), the private TV channel and others, summoning their comments on April 6.

Petitioner Syed Hassan Abbas had said in his application that he has been teaching at KU’s Department of Petroleum Technology since 2009, and that he has had a spotless career. Abbas said a female student had filed a complaint against him to the university’s registrar accusing him of harassment, but, he said, he had refuted the claim and submitted the facts.

He said that on the incitement of the student, a private TV channel started a campaign against him by constantly airing fabricated information about him since March 13. The lecturer said he had sent a legal notice to the management of the channel for damaging his reputation and also asked the Mobina Town SHO to take necessary action against the management for harassing him.

He claimed that the female student had approached him for increasing the marks of her friends, and that when he refused to do so, a harassment campaign was launched against him.

He requested that the court restrain the private TV channel from airing allegedly baseless news against him, as well as direct Pemra and the Mobina Town SHO to act in accordance with the relevant laws by entertaining his plea.