LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) - The Lahore High Court has suspended an e-tender and related proceedings for road construction and improvement using Sugar Development Cess funds until the next hearing.
Justice Javed Hassan heard a constitutional petition filed by Indus Sugar Mills Limited and observed that the allocation and utilisation of public funds collected under the Sugar Development Cess must comply with the relevant legal provisions.
Petitioner's counsel Ahmed Raza argued that under Rule 9-A(1), Clause 9 of the Punjab Sugarcane Development Cess Rules, 1964, the elected member of the provincial assembly from the relevant constituency must be included in the Divisional Sugarcane Development Cess Committee. However, Muhammad Owais Dareeshak, the MPA elected from the area of Indus Sugar Mills, was not included in the committee.
The counsel maintained that the allocation of funds and approval of development schemes by a committee constituted without fulfilling the legal requirements were legally questionable. He said the petitioner had repeatedly brought the alleged irregularity to the attention of the relevant authorities, but no corrective action had been taken.
Justice Hassan observed that the matter was not merely an administrative disagreement but involved a legal question about whether the committee responsible for utilising Sugar Development Cess funds had been constituted in accordance with the law. He added that where legislation prescribes a specific procedure for constituting a body, administrative authorities cannot deviate from it.
The court admitted the petition for regular hearing and directed the relevant Punjab government authorities to submit written replies before the next hearing. It also ordered the Deputy Commissioner Rajanpur and senior officials of the relevant departments to appear in person along with the complete record.
The court further sought the committee's notification, minutes of its meetings, decisions regarding fund allocation, relevant correspondence, details of development projects and complete records of the tendering process.
Granting interim relief, the court suspended the e-tender notice issued on October 9, 2026, by the Superintending Engineer, Highway Circle Dera Ghazi Khan, along with all subsequent proceedings initiated or proposed by the committee, until the next hearing.
The court observed that continuation of the tendering process could create third-party rights and complicate the implementation of any future judicial decision.