An application has been moved in the Lahore High Court (LHC) to restrain the federal and provincial governments from purchasing sugar at Rs 65 per kg through a tender by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), when the open market rate of the commodity is Rs 53 per kg.
The application was filed by Ahmed Imran Ghazi, through his counsel Azhar Siddique, in a pending petition on the sugar matter. Chief Justice Azmat Saeed would begin proceedings on the application today (Thursday). According to the application, TCP unlawfully gave a sugar purchase tender to Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan (USCP) at Rs 63 to Rs 65 per kg, which would result in a hike in the commodity’s present open market price of Rs 53.
He said the govt’s decision would result in a price hike of the commodity currently being sold at Rs 53 in the open market. The petitioner said it would cause a loss of Rs 2.5b to the national exchequer in the wake of purchase by USCP at high rates and selling the same to the poor at subsided rates.
