Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by sugarcane growers seeking reopening of relocated sugar mills owned by the Sharif family in southern Punjab.

A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan directed the representatives of five sugar mills to hold a meeting and prepare a proposal for buying and selling of sugarcane crop and present it before the court on Wednesday (tomorrow).

The court directed that the cane commissioner and representatives of farmers should also be included in the meeting. The court held that it would examine the proposals of both the parties and then issue an appropriate order.

The chief justice made it clear to the sugarcane growers that the mills illegally relocated to southern Punjab will not be opened at any cost. However, the court will itself supervise the implementation of its orders in the matter of sugarcane purchase by the mills, he added.

The CJP said whether a sugar mill is sold out or it faces bankruptcy, there should be no loss to the farmers.

Aitzaz Ahsan, senior counsel for sugar mills, told the court that his clients were ready to purchase the sugarcane pointed out by the cane commissioner. The chief justice then asked the sugar mills to provide the court till Tuesday (today) evening the schedule of sugarcane purchase.

The petitions seeking reopening of three relocated sugar mills of the Sharif family were filed by the sugarcane growers. These mills are: Chaudhry Sugar Mills in Rahim Yar Khan, Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills in Muzaffargarh and Ittefaq Sugar Mills in Bahawalpur.

During the hearing, the chief justice asked the district coordinator officer of Rahim Yar Khan that either he was incompetent or partisan on the issue because the situation was being flared up creating problems for the sugarcane growers. He said the court wanted that the poor farmers should not suffer at any cost. He said the relocated mills will not be allowed to reopen even if the court has to manage a fund to compensate the growers.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial noted that the banned sugar mills might be creating problems for the poor growers thus they should compensate them. “What is the nexus between the banned sugar mills and the Punjab government?” the chief justice asked, adding that it was a failure of the local administration that the matter was not resolved properly.

Later the court adjourned the hearing till Feb 21.

The sugarcane growers had approached the Supreme Court to allow crushing of sugarcane for the current season after the Lahore High Court (LHC) had declared the relocations of these sugar mills illegal.

The LHC had directed the owners of the mills to shift them to their previous locations within three months. The LHC had also held that the Sharif family had illegally relocated the mills.

The relocation of Sharif family’s sugar mills was challenged by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen.

In their petition, the farmers had stated that the crop of this season will be wasted if the mills were not allowed to operate. However, the apex court rejected their request and directed the owners of five other sugar mills to buy their crop.

The owners of five sugar mills, including Jahangir Tareen, had given an undertaking to the apex court that they would lift all the sugarcane from three districts at the price of Rs 180 per 40kg.

However, dissatisfied with the arrangement, the growers pointed out that the mills did not have the capacity to crush the quantity of sugarcane grown in the area, pleading the relocated mills be allowed to operate.

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.