Inflation: SHC calls for comments from commissioner, others

Comments sought from Karachi commissioner on a petition against the sale of milk at inflated rates.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) called on Wednesday comments from the provincial chief secretary, the Karachi commissioner and others on a petition against the sale of fresh milk at inflated rates.

A civil rights campaigner, Rana Faizul Hasan, had gone to court saying that a committee constituted by the Karachi commissioner had on April 9, 2012, fixed and notified the per litre retail price of fresh milk at Rs70. But, the petitioner claimed, the commodity is still being sold at inflated rates between Rs80 and Rs84 due to the failure of the authorities to enforce the official rates.

The daily consumption of fresh milk in the city is estimated at 500 million litres, according to Hasan, thus the retailers are earning more than Rs60 million profits by selling the essential commodity at inflated rates, he added.

During Wednesday’s hearing, provincial law officer Miran Muhammad Shah told the two judges that the Karachi commissioner is responsible for fixing and enforcing the prices of the essential commodities in the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2014.