LAHORE: A division bench of Lahore High Court on Monday gave a week to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills in Muzaffargarh, Ittefaq Sugar Mills and Chaudhry Sugar Mills in Rahim Yar Khan to explain the violation of the stay order.
During the hearing of appeals against shifting of these mills, in compliance with contempt of court notices CEO of Chaudhry Sugar Mills, Yousaf Abbas Sharif (also nephew of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif), CEO of Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills, Waqas Riaz and CEO of Ittefaq Sugar Mills Mian Javed Shafi appeared in court.
Bench observed that the mills had been found guilty of blatant violation of the court’s stay orders pertaining to their functioning and violation of the judicial orders could not be tolerated.
Bench accepted the request of the CEOs of these mills and directed them to submit their written replies within a week.
Bench on April 26 had issued contempt of court notices to the CEOs of the three sugar mills for carrying out sugar crushing in defiance of the stay.
Bench had issued the notices after Barrister Ch Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel of PTI leader Jahangir Tareen alleged that the sugar mills of Sharif family ignored the stay order and continued sugar crushing and other activities. He also submitted documentary evidence in support of his argument for violation of the stay order.
Bench was hearing intra court appeals moved by administration of these mills challenging a single bench that had set aside their shifting of these three mills to new districts of South Punjab.
JDW Sugar Mills of PTI leader Jahangir Tareen and others had assailed the relocation of the Sharif family’s mills before the single bench. However, a two-judge bench later suspended the decision.
The petitioners then approached the Supreme Court against that order.
The apex court had remanded the case to the LHC with direction to decide the appeals of the mills.
Before single bench, the petitioner counsel had said that secretary industries issued the impugned notifications on December 4, 2015 with malafide intention to facilitate the desired relocation of these sugar mills. He said under section 3 of Punjab Industries (Control on Establishment and Enlargement) Ordinance, there was a restriction on establishment of industrial undertaking without provincial government’s permission.
He had submitted that under this section, various notifications had been issued imposing restriction on establishing new sugar mills in the province. He had pleaded that it was the government’s consistent position that relocation amounts to establishing of a new industrial undertaking.
