KARACHI, March 1: There is no restraint order in favour of milk sellers or against the city district government (Karachi), a Sindh High Court division bench observed on Thursday.

The bench, which consists of Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Ali Sain Dino Metlo, was hearing a petition moved by the Milk Retailers Association when CDGK counsel Manzoor Ahmed informed it that milk sellers were charging an arbitrary price under the cover of proceedings.

The petitioner association was circulating and pasting ‘public notices’ that the court had suspended the CDGK-fixed price and that the retailers were free to realise what they considered to be profitable price. The commodity was selling at as high a price as Rs34 per litre, the counsel said.

The bench remarked that there was no stay order in the field and it wanted to promptly decide the petition. It asked the CDGK counsel to file a rejoinder by March 6, when the petition would again come up for hearing.

Raising a preliminary objection, the counsel contended that the government or its functionaries had taken no action against the petitioner association as such. The petitioner should disclose what action has been taken against the individual retailer so that the government could submit its comments. The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel, Naeemur Rehman, to provide details.

The association says that the CDGK-fixed price has been arbitrarily determined as milk costs Rs32.85 to wholesalers. In order to earn reasonable profit, a retailer must sell it at Rs34 per litre, it maintains.