The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday reserved its verdict in the Kissan Package case.
A two-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan was hearing the federal government’s plea against the Peshawar High Court (PHC)’s Dec 8, 2015 order.
Agritech Limited, which manufactures fertiliser from local rock, had challenged the package in the PHC, terming it discriminatory. The PHC in its verdict had declared that there should not be any discrimination in distribution of subsidy to fertiliser producers.
During the case hearing, the Supreme Court expressed resentment over the absence of law regarding subsidy.
Justice Qazi Faiz Essa remarked that the government should stop presenting the budget if it is releasing billions of rupees through administrative orders.
He stated that people want to see positive utilisation of their taxes. Subsidy should’ve been awarded to the best fertiliser company, after testing samples of all the factories, he added.
In the previous hearing, the apex court had asked the attorney general to assist it in determining legitimacy of the Kissan Package, under which supplementary grants were released for fertiliser subsidy, without seeking approval of Parliament under Article 84 of the Constitution.
