LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the Punjab cane commissioner to ensure release of farmers’ payments pending with the Sharif family owned and other sugar mills in the province.

During the hearing of a case regarding shifting of three sugar mills belonging to the Sharif family, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah directed the cane commissioner to submit a progress report on the matter on Feb 27.

Chaudhry Sugar Mills, Rahim Yar Khan; Ittefaq Sugar Mills, Bahawalpur; and Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills, Muzaffargarh; had filed appeals against a decision by a single bench striking down the shifting of the mills.

Earlier, Punjab government’s counsel Khwaja Harris in his arguments stated that under the law a sugar mills was required to seek permission from the department concerned for its relocation.

However, he said there was no mala fide in relocation policy introduced by the government for sugar mills in 2015.

On behalf of Haseeb Waqas and Chaudhry Sugar Mills, Advocate Ali Sibtain Fazli argued that the law did not require permission for the shifting but for establishing new sugar mills.

He said the provision of government’s approval was inserted in the law after shifting of the sugar mills in question.

While the arguments of the lawyers were in process, the bench postponed hearing for Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2017