LHC allows growers to sell crops to other provinces

Verdict says sugar mills have no right to weaken farmers financially

ISLAMABAD:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday allowed the sugarcane growers to sell their produce to other provinces.

Justice Jawad Hassan announced the verdict on a petition filed by a sugar mill owner challenging the Punjab cane commissioner’s decision regarding lifting of inter-provincial ban on sugarcane export to other provinces.

The court, while upholding the move to sell sugarcane to other provinces, said that farmers have constitutional rights to sell sugarcane wherever they want.

“Sugar mills have no right to weaken the farmer financially,” according to the verdict.

The court ruled that there was no law barring farmers from selling sugarcane, adding that after the amendment, farmers were being paid by the bank.

The Punjab government had issued a gazette notification for The Sugar Factories (Control) Amendment Ordinance, 2020 for the protection of sugarcane farmers’ rights.

The cane commissioner has also apprised the court that the sugar mills should not be allowed to set up purchase centres.

Earlier, in a bid to snub the practice of off the book purchase, the Punjab cane commissioner had directed the deputy commissioners of all districts to inspect sugarcane procurement being carried out by sugar mills in their respective localities.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association had informed the Ministry of Industries that millers were facing serious shortage of raw material and could shot down their operations in the near future.

However, Industries Minister Hammad Azhar had observed that there was no shortage of sugarcame in Punjab. “When the government negotiates with mills on high prices of sugar, they say that it is a result of demand and supply, but when it comes to the pricing of sugarcane for farmers, they [mill owners] depart from the same logic.”