Islamabad High Court issues notice to federal govt on PSMA appeal

Court inquires if notification regarding formation of inquiry commission was published in Gazette of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notice to the federal government on an intra-court appeal of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and mill owners to declare the Sugar Inquiry Commission report void ab initio and sought reply until July 15.

The court observed that it would also issue an appropriate order on the stay application to suspend the inquiry commission report.

A divisional IHC bench comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition filed by the PSMA and mill owners against the June 20 decision of the single-member bench.

On June 20, the IHC had declared the constitution of an inquiry commission to probe the cartelisation and price hike of sugar lawful and also validated its proceedings and report.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Aamir Farooq asked whether the notification regarding the formation of inquiry commission was published in the Gazette of Pakistan.

Petitioners’ counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan adopted the stance that it was published later and stated that the body was not formed in accordance with the law.

He cited the Supreme Court’s decisions saying that a notification was only effective when it was published.

Khan argued that when the gazette notification for the constitution of the commission was for July 6, the body would also come into existence on the same date.

He contended that initially six members were included in the commission but when the report came to the fore it had the signatures of seven members.

Khan said when they had raised this issue before a single-member bench on June 19, the government in response presented the notification for the seventh member on June 20.

He claimed that the single-member bench announced the decision on the same date and did not grant time to the petitioner to file a reply on it.

“This way the commission started working earlier, while the notification was issued later, which according to law is not correct,” he said.

“Normally, the report is public through a gazette notification but in our case, it was given to the media and made public,” he added.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asked why no objection was raised at the constitution of the inquiry commission by the sugar mills at the time when it was working.

The PSMA counsel stated that they had not been given any information by the commission at that time.

Justice Aamir Farooq directed that the attorney general should satisfy the court in the next hearing whether the notification for the constitution of the commission was published in the Gazette of Pakistan.

He ordered that all the notifications with regard to the formation of the commission should be presented before the court.

Khan said that a report is legally made public when it is published in the Gazette of Pakistan.

He requested the court to suspend the sugar inquiry report as an interim relief.

The court replied that it would see the matter at the time of issuing a written order on it and adjourned the hearing of the case until July 15.