PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday temporarily suspended provincial government’s decision to allow functioning of a new sugar factory in Dera Ismail Khan in the ongoing sugarcane crushing season.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Fazal Subhan issued notices to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and secretary industries, seeking their response to a petition filed by M/S Chashma Sugar Mills.

The petitioner has challenged the provincial cabinet’s decision of Nov 6, 2024, to permit M/S Alman Seyyam Sugar Mills to commence operation in the crushing season, and a subsequent notification of industries department of Nov 21, 2024, in the light of that decision.

The bench also put on notice M/S Alman Seyyam Sugar Mills, which is also one of the respondents, for filing reply to the petition. The petitioner has requested the court to declare the cabinet’s decision of Nov 6 and the notification of Nov 21 as illegal.

Petitioner says govt’s permission is contrary to laws and court’s earlier orders

It also sought directives of the court for the official respondents including chief secretary, and secretaries of industries and agriculture departments to take necessary measures for improvement and increasing the sugarcane crop in DI Khan at least to minimum level of seven million tonnes of the annual consumption of the existing four sugar mills there.

Senior lawyer Isaac Ali Qazi appeared for the petitioner and stated that in view of the prevalent laws, facts and circumstance, no new sugar mills could be set up specifically in DI Khan division without satisfying the factors stipulated by Peshawar High Court in two earlier judgements delivered on Jan 16, 2018 and May 16, 2024.

He argued that in the light of the said two judgements of the high court, the provincial government should not have given permission for setting up of new sugar mills in DI Khan or to allow its operation there.

He said that any new sugar mills must meet different conditions including a minimum distance of 35 kilometres from the nearest existing mills and sufficient availability of water and sugarcane. He added that the respondent sugar mills was situated around 17 kilometres away from that of the petitioner’s mills.

The counsel said that current situation in DI Khan was challenging as the four existing sugar mills there were struggling to secure adequate sugarcane and establishment of a new sugar mills would be unsustainable.

He argued that Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950, and relevant rules required that a sugar mills should run for about 150 days per cane crushing season. He added that all the four sugar mills in DI Khan required at least seven million tonnes sugarcane per annum, whereas contrary to that in DI Khan only three million tonnes was grown, which was extremely deficient for the requirement of the existing sugar mills.

Mr Qazi referred to a 2005 notification of the government for issuance of No Objection Certificate to new mills, keeping in view different conditions including availability of water and sugarcane acreage required to cater to the capacity of existing mills in the district, location of new mills should be at least 35 kilometres from nearest sugar mills, etc.

He said that there were 88 sugar mills throughout the country that only operated for 100 days compared to the standard 150 days as required by Sugarcane Factories Control Act, 1950. He added that in DI Khan around 28 to 30 per cent of the sugarcane was procured from other than its vicinity by the existing four sugar mills, which had also now been on the squeeze.

He said that allowing setting up of new sugar mills without satisfying each and every factor as enumerated in the 2005 notification was unjustified and illegal.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2025