Lahore HC issues contempt of court notices to Sharif family's sugar mills

The Lahore High Court has issued notices of contempt of court to the chief executive officers of Ittefaq, Chaudhry and Haseeb Waqas sugar owned by members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family for operating the mills in defiance of a stay order.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, was on Wednesday hearing intra-court appeals filed by the three mills against a verdict that had declared as void their relocation to districts of South Punjab, reports the Dawn.

Also, the Supreme Court, on February 9, had suspended the operation of these sugar mills and had remanded the case to the LHC on the application of Jahangir Tareen, General Secretary of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The bench expressed dismay and issued contempt of court notices to the CEOs of the three sugar mills, directing them to personally appear in court on May 8 to explain their positions.

While issuing the sealing order, Chief Justice Shah had observed that the mills owned by the family and relatives of Prime Minister Sharif had not only brazenly flouted court orders, but also disregarded the ban imposed by the government on establishing new sugar mills, and did not even bother to seek permission for relocation.

He further observed that the conduct of the appellant mills amounted to taking the law into their hands or being the law unto themselves.