SHC seeks comments on plea against milk’s higher wholesale price

The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the assistant commissioner of Karachi to submit a report about the wholesale milk price and what action had been taken so far if milk was being sold beyond the notified price.

The direction came on a petition of a retailer, who said he was not getting milk at notified rates. He submitted that he himself was a milk seller and purchasing milk from a wholesaler at Rs114 per liter and he was selling it at Rs120 per liter. He stated that since he was purchasing milk at a higher rate from the wholesaler, he was unable to sell milk at the notified rate of Rs94 per liter.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar inquired the assistant commissioner as what the criterion was for checking the essential commodities’ prices and what efforts were being taken to ensure that milk was sold in the city at the notified price. The court also asked what action had been taken against persons selling the milk at higher rates.

It directed the assistant commissioner to look into the selling of wholesale milk to retailers at a higher price and submit a report explaining what the wholesale price of milk was and what action had been taken so far if the milk was being sold beyond the notified price.

The court also directed the assistant commissioner to tell the court whether all the stakeholders had been taken on board to resolve the issue and whether any meeting had been convened for this purpose. It also directed the petitioner to supply the address of the dairy farmers and wholesale dealers’ association so that notices may be served on its members.