Top court suspends SHC judgement declaring sugar commission, its report illegal

The Supreme Court (SC) suspended on Wednesday the Sindh High Court's (SHC) judgement that declared the sugar inquiry commission and its report illegal.

A three-member special judge bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed also issued notices to the respondents over the federal government's petition.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned for a month.

Last week, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan, on behalf of the federal government, filed a petition against the ruling on August 17. He stated that the SHC quashed the fact-finding report as well as the notifications for the inquiry commission under the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017.

The government’s petition maintained that the SHC quashed the fact-finding report and the notifications on technical grounds, as the summary for constituting the commission was initiated by the interior ministry rather than the Cabinet Division. The petition further stated that the notifications were published belatedly in the official gazette.

This was despite the fact that the summary for appointing all seven members of the commission was duly approved by the federal cabinet and none of the sugar manufacturers, including the respondents, ever did or could claim lack of knowledge of the proceedings of the commission.

The petition further maintained that the commission also fully interacted with the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), of which the respondent manufacturers were members. They could not show any prejudice whatsoever owing to the fact that the summary was initiated by the Interior Division, which in any case merged in the final approval of the cabinet, nor due to any delay in the publication of the notification in the gazette, the petition upheld.

“It is submitted with profound respect and humility that the bench grossly erred in law and facts and based the judgement on the completely unjustified assumption that the aggrieved party, in this case, is the group of manufacturers of sugar,” the petition said.

In a surprising move, the Sindh High Court had on August 17 quashed the sugar inquiry commission's report declaring it illegal.

A two-judge SHC bench led by Justice KK Agha announced the judgement , stating that the notification regarding the constitution of sugar commission was illegal.

The decision was, however, not to prevent authorities including the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from proceeding against sugar mill owners in accordance with law, and without any reference to or reliance on the report.