ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its judgement on an appeal of the federal government against a Peshawar High Court judgement on a Rs 20 billion subsidy on manufacture of single super phosphate (SSP) fertilizer under the Kissan Package. A two-member bench consisting of Justice Ejaz Afzal and Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the appeal on the third consecutive day on Friday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a Rs 341 billion Kissan Package before the local council elections last year. One of the components of the package was a Rs 20 billion subsidy on the SSP fertilizer with the condition that it would be given to the manufacturers who would produce the fertilizer using imported rock. Of the Rs 20 billion subsidy, the federal government had to pay Rs 10 billion, Punjab government Rs 7 billion and the Balochistan government Rs 400 million. Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments would pay the remaining amount. The federal and the Punjab governments have given their share of the subsidy, but the other three provinces have yet to pay their share of the subsidy. Agritech Limited challenged government’s “discriminatory” distribution of the subsidy and the PHC gave a verdict in their favour. The court said the government should have treated all companies equally in terms of subsidy, which was being given from taxpayers’ money. Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the Agritech Limited, said his client filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court in the light of Supreme Court judgements. The application was maintainable and the high court passed the order after examining all aspects of the case that Agritech should be given subsidy like other companies. He said that a federal legal team contested the case in the PHC, but it failed to submit any technical report to the court. He said the PHC judgement attained finality because federation’s appeal was time barred. He asked the SC bench not to entertain it. Justice Ejaz asked, would he have no objection if Agritech is asked to undergo laboratory tests again? The attorney general of Pakistan said the government would have no objection if the lab tests are done again, but the tests should not be conducted on the final product; they should be conducted on the raw material the company was using to manufacture the aforementioned fertilizer. He said the fertilizer manufacture process must be examined because Agritech would add chemicals to maintain 18 percent of phosphate during the fertilizer production. Raja agreed, but said the test should be carried out on the fertilizer. He said that other companies were given a subsidy of millions of rupees, but his client was discriminated against. After completion of the arguments, the court reserved its judgement.