Defaulter business: Court seeks sale of sugar stock to pay farmers’ dues

CM Shahbaz Sharif owns shares in the mills, court told

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Tuesday directed authorities concerned to sell sugar stock of the Brothers Sugar Mills and deposit the revenue with the court for payment of dues to farmers who had supplied sugarcane to the mills.

He was hearing several petitions seeking court directives for the mill administration to clear farmers’ outstanding dues.

The chief justice observed that the court would ensure protection of the rights of the farmers. No one would be allowed to deprive them of their hard earned money, he said.

He gave both parties till August 15 to submit their arguments on a proposal to sell other assets of the mills to clear farmers’ dues.

He directed the board of directors of the sugar mills to appear in the court for the next hearing. No one from the mills administration attended the hearing on Tuesday.

Earlier, the cane commissioner informed the court that the Brothers Sugar Mills had been sealed and its stock of 400,000 sugar bags seized. He said another 265,000 bags had already been pledged to banks. The value of the mills’ stock was around Rs82 billion, he added.

The court was also informed that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif owned shares in the sugar mills.

At a hearing on June 24, the chief justice had directed that the sugar mills should be sealed over its failure to clear Rs870 million in outstanding dues of farmers.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.