LAHORE, Nov 10: The Lahore High Court registrar office on Wednesday returned a constitutional petition against an unbridled increase in sugar price and for action against the responsible authorities with directions to attach with the plea a notification regarding increase in the commodity price.

A citizen, Ahmad Imran Ghazi, filed the petition through his counsel, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, who also requested that the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister should be summoned before the court for violation of basic human rights and be directed to explain about their failure to provide sugar and other essentials at reasonable price.

The federal and Punjab governments, ministry of food, sugar mills association and others have been made respondents by the petitioner.

The counsel submitted that an artificial shortage of sugar was created by a certain class of profiteers and the government miserably failed to curb this mafia. He said people in governments and opposition members were directly or indirectly owners of the sugar mills but were not inclined to sell the commodity at reasonable price.

The petitioner has prayed to the court that a direction should be given to the federal and provincial governments to enact, re-enact, repeal and amend the relevant laws, regulations and orders to safeguard fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan so that the stakeholders involved in black market, hoarding and profiteering could be dealt with an iron hand.