Sugar mills challenged the provincial agriculture department's notification with regard the fixation of Rs 182 per 40 kgs prices of sugarcane on the contention it should be have been fixed Sugarcane Control Board, constituted on the orders of the court rather than agriculture department.
Additional Advocate General Sindh argued that Article 77 of constitution empowers the parliament in financial matters and in the spirit of said article, power of taking the decision rests with the government under rules of business.
Provincial attorney submitted before the court that consultation with the cabinet for fixation of sugarcane price is only a procedural formality and stated that implementation of the fixed sugarcane price is ensured.
He described the sugarcane prices fixed for the current season appropriate for all the stakeholders as they were consulted before its fixation. The court sought the comments from the counsels of other parties in the petition, filed by sugar mills with the plea to cancel the notification for fixation of sugarcane price.
Meanwhile, a division bench headed by Chief Justice SHC Ahmed Ali M Sheikh observed Voluntary Returns (VR) scheme of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has badly impacted the system when it resumed the hearing on case related to officials, who were reinstated after benefiting from plea bargain for committing corruption.
The court sought the reports about the reinstatement of Mehdi Shah, Sardar Shah, Zahid Shah and Nazir Shah as well as ordered that details of their corruption should also be submitted as how much they embezzled and deposited in national exchequer under plea bargain clause of accountability bureau.
The court stated that it would announce the order after going through various aspects of this case and said that it has reports that many officials including deputy commissioner are posted on important positions after benefiting from VR scheme.