PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday suspended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s order granting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for setting up a new sugar mill in Dera Ismail Khan.
The division bench consisting of Justice Naeem Anwar and Justice Fazal Subhan while hearing the writ filed on behalf of Chashma Sugar Mill through Advocate Ishaq Ali Qazi issued notices to the provincial government and the mill management in this regard.
The lawyer told the court that the PHC had earlier banned setting up of new sugar mills in Dera Ismail Khan in 2018 and 2024. He further said that the provincial government was bound by the orders not to issue NOC for new mills.
He urged that setting up a new sugar mill needs to meet certain criteria, including a distance of at least 35 km from existing mills and availability of sufficient water and sugarcane.
However, he argued that the current situation in Dera Ismail Khan shows that the existing four sugar mills are already facing difficulties in crushing sugarcane, with 30-40 per cent of their supply coming from Punjab.
So it was not possible to issue NOC for the new sugar mill.
Advocate Qazi further said that the provincial government has not only violated the decisions of the PHC but also the orders of the Supreme Court by issuing NOC to Ulman Siam Sugar Mill.
He argued that the Supreme Court had ruled that the area under sugarcane cultivation could not be increased due to adverse effects on the quality of land.
He said that several judgments of both the courts supported this position, declaring the NOC issued by the provincial government as illegal.
The petitioner’s counsel pointed out that the existing sugar mills were already required to crush sugarcane for 150 days, but even after 60 to 70 days of operation, they were facing difficulties and had to employ temporary workers.
He said that these mills are already running at a loss and the establishment of the new mill will increase the problems.
After hearing the preliminary arguments, the court suspended the NOC and sought a response from both the provincial government and the mill management that received the NOC.