LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has referred the petitions of the sugar mills against forced lifting of the commodity and its new price to an appellate committee available in the law as a first remedy with a direction to decide the controversy strictly in accordance with law.

During Wednesday’s hearing, a deputy attorney general had told the court that the petitioners could raise the issue before the appellate forum provided under section 6 of the Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Order 2021.

The millers’ counsel said due to absence of any express power in the rules of the appellate forum to grant interim relief, they approached the court under the constitutional jurisdiction.

However, they said the petitions could be referred to the appellate authority as applications for interim relief and the respondents be restrained from implementing the impugned orders till a decision.

To substantiate the plea of irreparable loss, the counsel argued that there was no mechanism of recovering the amount from the consumers, to whom sugar was being supplied, even if the appellate forum decided the matter in favour of the millers.

In his written order issued on Thursday, Justice Shahid Jamil Khan says, “Observing judicial restraint to give any observation of finding on the issue, the matter is referred to appellate authority, ibid, which shall treat these petitions as applications for interim relief.”

In the interest of justice, the judge directed that till decision on the applications the impugned orders of the government shall not be implemented.

With these directions, the judge disposed of the petitions of the sugar mills.

The counsel for the millers told the court that legality of the Punjab Sugar (Supply Chain Management) Order 2021 was also challenged in the petitions.

The judge allowed the petitioners to raise the matter later through a fresh litigation.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2021