KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday summoned the provincial agriculture secretary on a petition of sugar cane growers regarding non-payment of their dues.

The Sindh Growers Alliance (SGA) and others had moved the court pleading that hundreds of applications filed by growers to the cane commissioner complaining of non-payment of their lawful dues outstanding against sugar mills were still pending.

During the previous hearing, the SHC had directed the cane commissioner to check whether the growers were being paid Rs160 per 40kg for the cane crop and to ensure the payment to unpaid growers after the commissioner informed the bench that he had received 1,012 applications from growers which had been sent to the sugar mill owners for comments and clearance of dues if not paid earlier.

When the matter came up for hearing on Monday before a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, the bench came down hard on the cane commissioner over non-payment of dues to the growers and summoned the agriculture secretary to appear before it in the next hearing.

The bench said it might consider constitution of an inquiry committee after the petitioners contended that most of the sugar mills were not offering the official rate and also not paying growers’ outstanding dues.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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