LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday agreed to constitute a local commission to visit and verify alleged shifting of four sugar mills owned by close relatives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Justice Ayesha A Malik had already suspended two notifications issued by industries secretary that allowed shifting of Ittefaq Sugar Mills Sahiwal, Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills Nankana Sahib, Abdullah (Yousaf) Sugar Mills Sargodha and Abdullah Sugar Mills Dipalpur to other districts.

The judge had ordered a status quo with respect to shifting or relocating of these mills. JDW Sugar Mills, owned by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Jahangir Tareen, and others had filed the petitions against shifting of the mills. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was also made party in the petition.

The petitioners stated industries secretary had issued impugned notifications on Dec 4, 2015 with mala fide intention to facilitate the relocation of these four mills. They said under Section 3 of Punjab Industries (Control on Establishment and Enlargement) Ordinance, there was a restriction on establishment of industrial undertaking without the provincial government’s permission. Under this section, various notifications had been issued imposing restrictions on establishing new sugar mills in the province, they said.

The petitioners pleaded it was the government’s consistent position that relocation amounted to establishment of a new industrial undertaking.

Allowing a request of the petitioner’s counsel, the judge constituted a local commission to examine the status of respondent sugar mills and sought nominees from the government and petitioners. The judge would resume hearing on March 29.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2016