ISLAMABAD, April 25: The Supreme Court on Tuesday served contempt of the court notice against Balochistan’s food secretary for behaving disrespectfully during a court proceeding.

The bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, served the notice against Secretary Food Balochistan Ali Zaheer while hearing a suo motu case on exorbitant flour prices in Balochistan. The secretary is required to respond within a week.

The suo motu action was taken after the court noted that flour mill owners were selling wheat flour at an inflated price despite release of flour on subsidy. The court also noted that the benefit of subsidy was not being passed on to people.

The court also asked Assistant Advocate-General Balochistan Sultan Mehmood to submit complete record, detailing the amount of wheat released by the provincial government besides specifying how much subsidy it had given to mill owners.

During the proceedings, the food secretary said that those who had submitted the complaint were “blackmailers”.

The bench reminded the secretary that he should behave like a senior government officer and cautioned about the court’s decorum.

At this point, the secretary left the court room but returned after being summoned by the court. The bench then informed him that it was issuing a contempt of court notice and he should reply within seven days.—Staff Correspondent