ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) frame guideline for Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on a sticky issue of sugar price on Thursday to fix the price of sugar instead of leaving it to market forces.
Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and the Punjab Sugar Association file an appeal against the verdict of Lahore High Court requiring Punjab Government to ensure the sale of sugar at Rs. 40 per Kg in the Province.
A three-judge bench of SC comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Ghulam Rabbani hearing identical appeals.
According to The Lahore High Court verdict that they supervise the CCP and safeguard interests of all sections, especially consumers, instead of leaving them at the mercy of the commission.
The SC ordered that during the period the commission would be listening to the stakeholders, including sugarcane growers, to determine the price, the government would make arrangements to sell sugar at Rs40 as fixed by the high court.
It also directed Attorney General (AG) Sardar Latif Khosa to submit Rules of the Business of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar M. Chaudhary adding that we have to strike equilibrium as the entire nation is standing at one side while the government is on the other, instead of strictly implementing orders of the high court the government had filed the appeal.
The three Judge bench made it clear that it was not its job to fix prices but its job was to ensure that the executive machinery started functioning.
After lengthy proceedings that continued till late evening, the court dismissed the appeal of the Punjab Sugar Dealers for lacking jurisdiction to file the petition after Advocate Farooq Amjad Mir expressed willingness to withdraw it.
The bench also criticised PSMA chairman Iskander Khan for submitting a fake document showing how a meeting of the association that took place in Lahore empowered its secretary general Ali Qazalbash to institute the appeal before the apex court.
The Bench ordered Mr Khan to produce Vice Chairman Javed Kiani on Friday for questioning who, with his signature, had authorised the secretary general to move the court.
The Advocate for PSMA Mr. Shahid Kareem, informed the court that the central executive committee of the association had passed a resolution, the copy of which was available in Lahore though the registered office was in Islamabad.
When asked to produce the same, which later turned out to be fake inviting ire of the court, Iskander Khan conceded that no minutes had been recorded and the document was produced in emergency.
The court expressed its dismay that the appeal was filed without proper authorisation and the PSMA dared to submit the document which prima facie is forged.
An attempt has been made to misguide the court by producing a fake document and thus guilty of criminal offence to undermine the authority of the court only to get relief on a petition which is not maintainable.
The court adding that no concession could be extended to the litigants because of their attitude.
The AG told the court that it was not possible to sell sugar at Rs40 as it would have ‘catastrophic’ affect on the agriculture system that would eventually ‘collapse.’
Meanwhile, the CCP in a preliminary report said that prima facie the PSMA and its members were in a serious and continuous violation of Section four of its ordinance which encouraged competition.
‘It appears, prima facie, that the sugar mills under the flag of PSMA are engaged in setting sugarcane price, territorial division for sugarcane procurement, bid, rigging in the TCP (Trading Corporation of Pakistan) tenders, establishing entry barriers by advocating and resisting the opening of new mills and setting sugar prices by making estimates and indulging in collective price negotiation,’ the report said.
The PSMA can no longer be called just a representative of the sugar mills but an organisation which functions as a business decision-making body.
The association by the approval of its members has prima facie exceeded its mandate, the report alleged.
There is plenty of documentation that showed the existence of a buyers’ cartel in the industry, the report said, adding that instead of competing in the open market the sugar mills preferred a closed and protected market which was easily manageable.
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