PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to continue its crackdown against profiteers and hoarders in the ongoing month of Ramazan and submit a progress report in this regard.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah directed the officials of home and food departments and that of KP Food Safety and Halal Food Authority to further ramp up their efforts of curtailing hike in prices and hoarding of essential commodities.

Referring to a report submitted by the KP home department in accordance with the previous order of the court, the bench observed that the report transpired that the situation had improved as compared to when the court had started hearing of the case and had issued certain directives to the government.

Justice Ijaz Anwar observed that their prime purpose was that the prices of essential commodities remain under control during the month of Ramazan.

Home dept asked to submit progress report in this regard

The bench fixed April 3 for the next hearing of a petition filed by a Peshawar resident, Malik Ahmad Javed, requesting the court to direct the federal and KP governments as well as deputy commissioners in the province to take immediate action against profiteers and hoarders, who, he insisted, were violating the law by not following the government’s price lists of essential commodities.

Advocate Abbas Khan Sangeen represented the petitioner, whereas special secretary home Zubair Ahmad, secretary food Zareeful Mani, additional advocate general Rauf Afridi and officials of the KP Food Safety and Halal Food Authority (FSHFA) also appeared in the case.

Abbas Sangeen stated that the administrative officers should ensure that all shopkeepers, retailers and service providers display the notified price lists for all essential items on their premises and service-providing units to avoid any inconvenience to the people.

He claimed that while price lists were issued by the administration that had not been followed by the shopkeepers.

Special secretary home Zubair Ahmad informed the court that additional chief secretary (home) Mohammad Abid Majeed could not turn up due to official engagements as he had to attend three important meetings with the federal interior minister, who visited the provincial capital on Thursday.

He stated that they had submitted a report about steps taken by the government including the inspections carried out across the province for checking price hike and hoarding of important items.

He stated that during the last five days around 500 per cent more inspections were conducted as compared to normal days. He added that the food department had also constituted special teams for inspections and had also been holding open public sessions for addressing their grievances.

The secretary stated that the FSHFA had conducted 1,941 inspections during last five days during which 9,000 shops were sealed for violating the relevant laws and rules.

He said that soon after the previous hearing in the case on March 21, the home department had issued detailed instructions to all the secretaries of the concerned departments, deputy commissioners and other relevant officers.

Mr Zubair said that the administrative officers had been instructed to drastically increase the overall volume of inspections of shops/sale points, take strict action against all those involved in illegal practices, and propose changes in various legal instruments that were being implemented by them in this regard.

He said that the FSHFA had also been asked to ensure that its field teams were actively involved in inspections and that senior officers should personally visit bazars and inspect food businesses.

He stated that the officers of food, agriculture, livestock, industries and labour departments had also been directed to increase the imposition of fines, registration of FIRs, arrests and sealing of premises, etc. and also to carry out special drives.

The director food, Yasir Hussain, informed that they had also been carrying out inspections in the super stores and checking prices of essential items there.

Abbas Sangeen also pointed out that the government should also needed to check activities of transporters as when the festival of Eid was approaching they started fleecing the passengers and had been charging exorbitant fares.

The special home secretary assured that they would constitute special teams in that regard and would also direct the regional commissioners and deputy commissioners to keep the situation under control.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024