KARACHI:The Sindh High Court (SHC) Thursday summoned Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Iqbal Memon in person on January 4 along with the new notification fixing the milk per-litre price at Rs120.

The court sought an explanation over the non-implementation of the 2007 order for not devising the mechanism to set the milk price officially. The administration has submitted a reply on behalf of the Karachi Commissioner. Milk retailers’ lawyer Abdul Rehman challenged the official notification arguing it was issued without consultations. He said that the administration did not make any mechanism to set the official price of the milk.

Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association (DCFA) President Shakir Umar Gujjar on behalf of his association also rejected the new notification of the Karachi Commissioner fixing the price of milk at Rs120 per litre. Karachi administration said that a revised price list was issued in consultation with the wholesalers and retailers.

On November 22, the Sindh High Court was informed that the local administration was yet to finalize the price of fresh milk as negotiations were still underway despite a series of meetings between relevant stakeholders.

The Commissioner Karachi Office had been negotiating with all the stakeholders to finalize milk prices in the local limits of Karachi Division, a report submitted by an additional commissioner on behalf of the commissioner had stated. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh which was hearing a contempt of court application against the administration’s failure to arrest arbitrary hike in milk price.