Summary Jahangir Tareen had challenged shifting of the sugar mills from northern Punjab to southern area
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered halt to operations in three of the sugar mills owned by Sharif family during hearing of a lawsuit filed by Jahangir Tareen, Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The PTI leader had filed a suit against Ittefaq, Haseeb and Chaudhry sugar mills over their shifting from northern Punjab to southern area.
Counsel for Tareen in the apex court, Leader of the Opposition in Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan cited notification of the Government of Punjab that was issued in 2006 barring establishment of a new sugar mill in the province as well as shifting.
However, counsel for the defence, Salman Akram Raja contested that 2015 Amendment brought in the 2006 notification permits shifting of the mills although establishment of new industries remains illegal.
Three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar halted crushing operations in the three factories and hand down the case to Lahore High Court ordering it to give a verdict in the issue within a week.
According to the defence counsel, the order would cause the mills to lose Rs 380 million besides rendering thousands of employees jobless.
Upon inquiry of the Chief Justice, the bench was told that Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif’s son, MNA Hamza Shehbaz did not have a stake in the mills but Tariq Shafi and Javed Shafi among their families are the stakeholders.
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