KARACHI, April 10: The Sindh High Court fixed Rs32 per litre as the interim retail price of milk till a price was agreed upon by all stakeholders and adjourned further hearing of the retailers’ petition to May 8.
The wholesalers will supply milk to retailers at Rs30 per litre till a price was finally agreed on, a division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Ali Sain Dino Metlo ordered.
Denying an allegation by the petitioner retailers association, city district government counsel Zafar Ahmed produced a notification issued by the district officer for price control fixing the milk price at Rs30 per litre.
The notification, the counsel said, was issued on April 9 in compliance with the court order of March 30 directing the CDGK to fix an interim price within seven days pending the stakeholders’ agreement on a fair price.
The petitioner association’s counsel, Naimur Rahman and Kazim Hasan, earlier contended that the CDGK failed to fix an interim price as ordered by the court.
As for the price notified belatedly, they said it was also unreasonable and arbitrary like the earlier price of Rs28 per litre. They said the CDGK had no authority to fix commodity prices as price fixation was the domain of the provincial government. According to a committee appointed by the provincial animal husbandry department, the production cost of fresh milk amounted to Rs33 per litre and it could not be sold for Rs28 or Rs30 without incurring loss.
