PHC directs ECC to reconsider sugar export decision

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet to reconsider its decision of allowing sugar export with regard to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal asked the ECC to make a decision “it deems fit as per its mandate” within two weeks.

It issued the directives while disposing of three petitions filed by Chashma Sugar Mills, Al-Moiz Industries and Tandinwala Sugar Mills, seeking orders for the provincial government to allocate sugar export quota to them in accordance with an ECC decision made on June 13, 2024.

The bench observed that it didn’t have all records of the previous meetings of the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB), while the matter was essentially related to facts, and therefore, it deemed it appropriate to restrain itself from interpreting the constitutional provisions relating to the administrative relations between the federation and provinces vis-à-vis the latter’s constitutional obligations.

Disposes of sugar mills’ pleas for export quota

“In our view, the justice of the case in hand demands that the ECC reconsider the issue in the context of the contention of the KP government and reach a decision it deem fit as per its mandate within two weeks positively,” the bench declared in its detailed judgement authored by Justice Dr Khurshid.

The petitioners had requested the court to declare that the KP government can’t delay or abdicate itself from the issuance of export quota to petitioners with the timeline as laid down by ECC, which was constitutionally binding on it.

The court declared, “In the attending circumstances of these petitions, however, we are of the view that ECC didn’t take into consideration the actual facts and figures of sugar production, its availability for consumption and the impact of its export in the event of a shortfall in the KP. Indeed, substantial facts and figures about sugar stock in the KP were not before it [ECC]. Respectfully, we can’t help observing that it took its decision in a haphazard manner.”

It also pointed out that the KP government, particularly its cane commissioner, also failed to present the case with such details as it had mentioned in comments to the petition.

“It is highly expected that the ECC – a principal federal institution, comprising elected members/ federal; ministers, which offers consultation to the Federal Cabinet on economic policies—while considering export of sugar (a key commodity) will consider the entire gamut of the issue surrounding it while reaching to a decision,” it observed.

The lawyer for petitioners, Isaac Ali Qazi, contended that SAB reviewed the situation of sugar in the country on June 10.

He said that after detailed deliberation, SAB allowed an initial export of 0.150mmt of surplus sugar with the conditions that PSMA (Pakistan Sugar Mills Association) should give undertaking that the ex-mill prices would not increase beyond Rs140 per kg and the entire export proceeds through sugar mills would be utilised for clearing payments of growers.

Mr Qazi said that ECC approved the summary of SAB with specific directives to the ministry of industries to ensure that quota for export of sugar should be distributed among provinces as per current year`s actual production and the provincial cane commissioners should allocate quota for export of sugar within seven days of the issuance of notifications by the ministry of commerce as per policy approved by ECC on stocks available on June 5, 2024.

He said that the federal cabinet ratified the ECC’s decision on June 25, 2024.

The lawyer, however, said while Punjab and Sindh acted within seven days of the specified time period and allocated quotas, the KP government had been delaying the matter and not issuing the required export allocation.

He contended that under the Constitution, export and import was the sole domain of the federation as mentioned in Entry No 27 of the Federal Legislative List.

KP additional advocate general Inam Khan Yousafzai opposed the plea, arguing that the province was deficient in sugar’s quantity.

He added that the current stock with sugar mills was 0.202mmt that was sufficient until Oct 23, 2024.

Mr Yousafzai said that in the SAB meeting, the KP government had emphasised that the retail price of sugar had crossed the benchmark of Rs145.15 per kg fixed by the ECC to be Rs147.71 per kg.

He said that the provincial government insisted that it would permit sugar export after the commencement of the upcoming crushing season in November.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024