SC fixes appeal seeking ban on export of fruits on July 16

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has fixed a Civil Miscellaneous (CM) Appeal in the constitution petition, seeking imposing ban on export of fruits and vegetables before Justice Umar Ata Bandial in Chamber for July 16.

Advocate Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta had filed a petition in the Supreme Court requesting to impose ban on the export of vegetables and fruits in the current situation of coronavirus, stating that due to export policy of food items, these basic source of nutrients i.e. fruits and vegetables have become out of the reach of a common Pakistani.

The office of the registrar (Supreme Court of Pakistan) however, had raised objection about the maintainability of the constitution petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan against which the petitioner had filed the CM Appeal.

Despite the criticality of the situation his petition CM Appeal 30 of 2020 was not being fixed in chamber. Therefore, the petitioner filed application for early hearing of the CM Appeal which had been granted by the Supreme Court and the hearing has been scheduled for 16th July, 2020 before Justice Umar Atta Bandial in chamber.

The petitioner in his application had specifically mentioned that potatoes are being sold against Rs70kg whereas tomatoes are being sold against Rs100kg. Similarly, the common fruit is being sold against Rs150–Rs300 per kg which is beyond the accessibility of common people. Mr Bhutta in his petition had criticised failure of government to control prices of commodities and had mentioned that apparently it seems that government is more interested in collection of funds from other donor countries rather than in facilitating its own people to fight against the pandemic.