Lahore high court orders release of imported Indian sugar

Mumbai: The Lahore high court has ordered the release of tonnes of imported Indian sugar held up at railway godowns in Pakistan declaring it not injurious to human health.

The Indian sugar was kept at the railways godowns as the PSQCA and the PCSIR laboratories were checking its quality.

The ruling comes on a petition filed by Swera Traders pleading for the release of the commodity as it was being consumed in several countries, including India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the Daily Times newspaper reported.

In their third petition, the Swera Traders said the company had imported 2,272 tonnes of sugar from India, but the customs authorities had refused to release it on the grounds that it was awaiting a test report from the PCSIR laboratories.

The company claimed that the chemical examination done by the PCSIR was not according to the required standard and therefore the court should not consider its report.

The Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) had submitted a report based on a PCSIR report declaring the sugar sub-standard and recommending a ban on it. The PSQCA said an independent test conducted by Shahtaj Sugar Mills also came up with the same conclusion.

The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) had, meanwhile, moved a petition pleading that the court halt the marketing and sale of the sugar in Pakistan.

PSMA counsel Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had alleged that the imported sugar was hazardous to health.

Luqman Ahmad, a sugarcane grower, had also filed a petition challenging import of the sugar.