LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday suspended the denotification of the chairman and members of the Punjab Agricultural Marketing Regulatory (Pamra) by the caretaker government.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza passed the stay order on a petition filed by Faisal Sandhu and other members of the Pamra Board through advocate Mubeenuddin Qazi.

The counsel argued that the caretaker government introduced amendments to sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Pamra Act 2018 through an ordinance issued on May15, 2023 in order to empower the provincial government to remove the chairperson and the members of authority.

He said the caretaker government could not take any such policy decision and it had no power to get promulgated an ordinance as its role was restricted to the performance of just day-to-day functions of the government until the elected government takes over the charge.

The counsel asked the court to set aside the impugned act of the caretaker government for being unlawful and without jurisdiction.

Justice Mirza suspended the impugned notifications and issued notices to the secretary agriculture and the director general of

Pamra for submission of their replies by June 16.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2023