LAHORE   -   The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday allowed sugarcane growers to sell their crops to other provinces.

The sugar mills have challenged the decision of the Punjab cane commissioner to lift an inter-provincial ban from sugarcane export to other provinces in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The judgment was pronounced by Justice Jawad Hassan. Declaring the act of selling sugarcane to other provinces by the growers as a right move, the LHC said in its decision that sugar mills have no right to weaken the farmer financially.

The rights of the farmers are protected in the constitution of Pakistan and there is no law that stops them from selling their sugarcane to other provinces, the judgment read.

Earlier, the cane commissioner Punjab had directed the deputy commissioners of all the districts to inspect the sugarcane procurement being carried out by the sugar mills in their respective localities to snub the practice of ‘off the book’ purchase.