LHC irked by sugar mills ignoring stay order

The mills are believed to be owned by the Sharif family.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued contempt of court notices to the chief executive officers of Chaudhry and Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills for crushing sugar at the factories despite a stay order.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah issued the notices after Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel of PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, said the mills ignored the stay order and continued sugar crushing and other activities. He also presented documentary evidence in support of his argument.

Ahsan pointed out that the bench, in its previous order, had sealed the sugar mills.

He said the evidence showed that the mills bought sugarcane from farmers and continued the crushing process. The bench expressed dismay over the contemptuous behaviour of factories and issued contempt of court notices to Abbas Sharif of Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Shafi Meraj of Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills.

The court ordered them to personally appear on May 8. Barrister Ahsan would continue his arguments on Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2017.