Islamabad: Supreme Court announces verdict in petition of federal government against SHC in Sugar Inquiry Commission case.The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday suspended Sindh High Court's decision to quash Sugar Inquiry Commission and its report.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan heard the petition of federal government against order of Sindh High Court.
While approving the petition of the federal government, the court issued notices to the sugar mills owners and sought their response in this regard.
Earlier, federal government challenged the SHC verdict of August 17 in the top court.
The appeal stated that a notification for setting up the commission was issued under the law.
It further said the commission conducted only fact-finding inquiry and it could not be quashed mere on the basis of suspicion.
In its verdict, the high court had nullified the sugar inquiry commission and its report.
The SHC had invalidated the sugar inquiry commission and its report and ordered authorities concerned to conduct a transparent inquiry into the issue.
The reserved verdict had been announced by SHC division bench comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Omar Sial on a petition filed by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) against an inquiry commission formed by government to investigate the sugar crisis.
The court while, declaring report of Sugar Inquiry Commission null and void had ordered National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to carry out an independent probe as per law.
On May 30, the federal government had made public a report of Sugar Inquiry Commission and it was uploaded on the Press Information Department (PID) website.
The report had found many top politicians among the beneficiaries including Shehbaz Sharif, Jahangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar, Moonis Elahi and Asif Ali Zardari.
Following the report, the government ordered to take action against sugar mill owners who approached SHC which stopped government from taking any further action.